Masquerade
by FrenchRaccoon
Summary: "I have feelings, you know?" At those words, April knew how much she had fucked up. One hour ago, she was sure that she was the good one, and he the bad one. That nothing could happen to them because of that. But now, she suddenly realised that things weren't that simple.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everbody!

Here is my brand new story! A romance between April O'Neil and Oroku Saki. It takes place in the 80's cartoon and is not related to the new cartoon in any way. It's rated M for a reason, there is some sex scenes (but not a lot).

This is my first try at a sex scene so, be nice! Tell me what you think about it and how I can make it better :)

My first language is French, so if you see any grammar/ spelling mistake please tell me.

Enjoy!

* * *

 **April O'Neil**

April O'Neil was sitting on her chair, waiting for something to happen. She was seated in the middle of a plain room of the Technodrome. Shredder was just in front of her, he was monitoring his surveillance camera quietly.

It was boring, really. As always, he had appeared to kidnapped her in the morning. He had taken her back to the Technodrome and now, the charade had begun. April had met the turtles more than three years ago. In the beginning, the action was fun. Being kidnapped, investigating, … To her, it looked like a science fiction movie. But it was her life, which made it that much more exciting.

But soon, reality became… Well. Much more real. The incessant kidnappings, the –more or less- same plots… She had grown bored of it. She didn't know if Shredder had similar feelings, but he too had changed over the years. Before, he often kidnapped her in terrifying ways. Now he just came to her, asking politely for her to follow him. If she resisted, he would force her. Of course. But if she didn't fuss with him she could get some much better treatments.

One day, she managed to get an ice cream on the way to the Technodrome. This memory was still quite fresh to her as his agreement had startled her. He even paid the damned ice cream. The seller's eyes had widened at the sight of him. At least, that had been fun.

"Hey, Shredder."

"What?" He answered sharply, without even turning to face her, but she was not afraid. His ways were lost on her.

"You remember the time you got me an ice cream?"

He turned to face her. She knew it, he always turned to face her when she spoke of it.

"Again about that? It was two months ago. If I knew it would make you that much more irritating I wouldn't even have bothered to consider the idea."

As he said that, she saw a movement on one of the securities cameras. A green flash to be more precise. That was it! The turtles were here, far away but they should be here in less than an hour. If she managed to keep him from watching those damn surveillance cameras she would be home in no time. As always, he had prepared traps and robots and who knows what else it always took ages for the Turtles to get past those. And she really could make a use of the hours she would save by helping her friends.

"Anyway, we don't have any ice cream here. So don't bother to ask." He was already moving back to his work. She had to act quick.

She got up from her seat –he wasn't even bothering to tie her up anymore- and got next to him.

"Come on, I know you're grumpy because you didn't get one."

"I was on a mission. If I want ice cream, I can eat it in my spare time." He didn't bother to face her anymore. She had teased him too much about it in the past. This was bad, she really wanted to avoid all the waiting she had to undergo if he trapped the turtles.

"You know, we could have shared."

he stopped moving at those words, she had scored.

Charm was one of her strong points. She often got out of problems thanks to some charming looks and some little cleavage flashes.

She stroked his arm lightly, he didn't move by an inch. "You don't have to be shy with me."

Her hand began to move up his arm slowly. She could feel his muscles tense under her touch. He turned his head to face her just in time to miss another turtle passing by some surveillance camera.

April's concentration went back to Shredder as he fully turned to face her. "What are you doing miss April?"

It was the first he called her by her first name. She felt the atmosphere change around them. His eyes narrowed at her although his gaze wasn't aggressive. She wasn't thinking of the turtles anymore, instead, she was intrigued by his face. She never saw it properly.

Her hand went to his helmet, he didn't move to stop her. She decided she would go on until he stopped her, probably creating a fight between them. She lifted his helmet, revealing his face. He had nice and delicate features, so alien to the character he had made for himself.

"I will not say it a third time, what are you doing?" This time, she couldn't spot any angriness in his voice. In fact, he said that in a whisper.

She wondered if he was attracted to her. She was definitely attracted to him right now. She had never really considered anything about him, but she was reconsidering. Right now.

She kissed his thin lips. They were smoother than she thought they would be. She felt his hands sliding on her lower back, slowly embracing her, giving her time to decline or go away. She brought his face down to her, deepening the kiss. He took it as an invitation, embracing her completely. His hands began to wander on her body, feeling her curves. The kiss changed from simple to feverish. He pushed her to the wall, using it to lift her on his hips.

This was going way further than she had planned. But she didn't mind, he felt good and she hadn't had a date for too long. She ground herself against his lower parts, she was definitely turning him on. Their kiss seemed to go on forever as they discovered each other. It came to an end too soon as he moved away from her, forcing her to get back on her two feet.

"Stay silent." His cheeks were red and he was a little out of breath after they make out.

He grasped her hand, leading her out of the surveillance room. She didn't have the time to ask where they entered a nearby door. He drove her in what seemed to be a bedroom.

"Is this…" She never ended her sentence as he pushed her onto the mattress, silencing her with a heated kiss. A silent alarm rang in her mind, they didn't have a lot of time before her friends would get her and she really didn't want to stop this before the end.

She tugged at his tunic, clearly saying she wanted to go further. As soon as their clothes were on the floor, they picked up where they had stopped. She had never felt that turned on in ages, he was really good at this. He seemed to find all her sensitive spots, making her tremble under his touch.

She gave a small cry as he stopped their kiss. He stayed above her, effectively pinning her under him while he searched in the bedside table. He dug a condom out of the mess that was in there.

She gulped as realization dawned on her: they were about to have sex.

He gave her a look, analyzing her reactions, before swiftly putting on the rubber. He kissed her again, she answered by embracing him. She felt him at her entrance grinding. She moaned when he entered her softly, giving her time to adapt to him. He stopped when he had fully entered her, taking time to kiss her neck and her cleavage.

As soon as she began to hump back to him, he took the control again. Grinding and humping to make her moan as she never had before. He stayed attentive to her, making the best out of this encounter.

She began to feel an intense heat in her lower stomach, building her orgasm. On his part, he seemed in control. He lifted her softly in his arms, re-positioning her a straddling manner over him as he kneeled on the mattress. She repositioned herself, slowly engulfing him as she enjoyed the face he made.

"This is really _good_ , I love it." She spoke without really thinking, just enjoying the experience as a whole. He embraced her, nibbling her ear.

"I love you."

This sentence surprised her. Why would he say that? Did he mistakenly used "you" instead of "it"? She didn't have much time to think of it as he began to fiercely pump himself into her, effectively bring her orgasm to a crashing point. She hugged him close as she passed the point of no return, feeling him tense in her too.

They stayed like that for a minute or so, just enjoying the sensations. He delicately brought her down on the mattress. He then lied down next to her.

She looked at him, registering what had happened in her mind. Looking at his naked form; breathless with a thin layer of sweat. They stayed in silence for a whole minute before he took a deep breath and turned to face her. "I…"

WHHHHEEEEEEE WHEEEEEEEEE

Suddenly an alarm blared in the background. He friends must have found their way in.

Shredder's face changed dramatically, going back to the deep frown he always had when he fought with the turtles. He swiftly got up and dressed in a flash.

"Stay here, I'll be back."

He then got out. As soon as the door closed on him, April was dressing up. He could give her as many orders as he wanted, she wasn't about to follow them.

She got out, trying to recognize the isle of the Technodrome Shredder had taken her to no avail. She began to run randomly, hoping she would not confront Beebop and Rocksteady.

"Hey! Avril!" She recognized Michelangelo's voiced.

"Hey, Mickey!" She jumped in his arms, as she was used to. He hugged her back.

"Guys, I'm taking April out of here. Can you take care of Shredder and co?"

"Yep, take her out already." As always, Raphael was grumpy.

She took off with her friend going back to the safety of her apartment. Michelangelo talked a lot on the way home, asking her if Shredder had troubled her in any way. She –as always- said it had been fun even though she kept to herself the _end_ of the encounter.


	2. Chapter 2

Dear readers, here is the next chapter of my fanfiction. No this is not the end. Yes I have already begun writing the next chapter. I have too many stories I haven't finished. I now plan on ending them one by one (or could I say terminate them?). Anyway, I you like my fiction please leave a comment and tell me about your feelings.

Have a good reading.

* * *

April O'Neil

The week had been completely empty. Compared to what she was used to, it was a void of fun. At first, she thought that Shredder was planning some sort of big trap for the turtles, but when she awoke in her bed Saturday morning, she understood she wouldn't see him at all. Nothing was happening. No kidnappings, no crazy plan to conquer the world or to kill the turtles.

She had only one word of that: boring.

The next Monday she got scared. What was really happening? Was he mad at her? On her way back home, she got to the turtles' HQ. She was greeted enthusiastically by her friends, Splinter gave her a cup of tea and they all sat in their living room.

Soon, Donatello spoke of his latest invention and its progression. Michelangelo discussed the latest film they had seen, which he had enjoyed a lot, and which Raphael obviously hated. Leonardo stayed quite silent, which made April guess that they hadn't seen Shredder too, or he would be speaking of their latest encounter.

"So, I guess you haven't seen Shredder this week? You guys seem to have a lot of free time."

"Yeah, I guess he took holidays or something." Said Michelangelo in between to mouthful of pizza.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one seeing this as something bad." Answered Leonardo with a gloomy look.

"Don't fear Leonardo, whatever is Shredder planning, we are ready to confront him."

April turned to Splinter: "But Splinter, it's strange. He always kidnaps me at least once a week. He never missed the Thursday night kidnapping."

Michelangelo burst out laughing: "Gosh, April, don't tell me you miss Shredhead!"

April blushed slightly: "It's not that! It's just … out of character."

"Do you miss your late nights out with Shreddie?" Michelangelo added, still laughing.

"Michelangelo, stop. You are embarrassing her." Splinter gave Michelangelo a grave look.

"It's not as if anything could happen between you two. He's evil and April is surely the best girl I know."

At those words, April felt bad. She hadn't thought of it like that. Yes, in the beginning, Shredder was just a bad guy to her but as time went by their relationship had changed. Or at least, her point of view had changed. Was she giving him too much credit?

Obviously, she must have made some face because all her friends were now looking at her silently.

"Sorry April, I just thought it was funny. I didn't want to bother you."

"You're always like that, come on, it was obvious you were embarrassing her." Raphael added.

"I am sorry!", pleaded Michelangelo.

"Anyway, I guess April is concerned that, if Shredder doesn't come back, she'll have to make an interview of that grandma's cat who is stuck in the tree every week or so." Leonardo gave her a small wink and immediately the atmosphere was pleasant again.

"Please, don't laugh about it. If Shredder doesn't do anything this week, I'll have to make an interview with the guy who beat the world record of "cracking nuts with his head". It's awful!"

They laughed cheerily together and then just spoke of other things. She had had her answer, Shredder didn't avoid her specifically, and in a way, she was glad.

* * *

Oroku Saki

He was waiting in her living room. He sat on the smaller part of the L-shaped couch, facing the corridor that led to the front door. He was in the dark as the sun began to set. It wasn't his first time in her apartment, but it was the first time he could lie down in her apartment.

Well, he couldn't really say he has relaxed in any way. He had thought about … He hadn't given "it" a name. He hoped, deeply, that it was as important for her than it had been for him. But obviously, it was not. Or else she would have stayed, as he had asked.

But perhaps she had no other choice?

He had thought about all week long but came to no reasonable explanation. Anyway, he had to speak to her. But to say what? He had no idea but a calm environment would be beneficial. No Krang, no turtles, just him and her. And some Chinese imperial duck. He had taken it on the way, he knew that she liked it and he somehow wished it would make the discussion easier.

He was tense but he tensed, even more, when he heard footsteps getting closer, and then the sounds of keys rattling. He heard her get in and, as she caught the sight of his shadow, dropped her keys as she took her umbrella and turned to him, menacing him with her newly found weapon.

"Don't move! I have a weapon!"

"Don't be ridiculous April."

As soon as she realized who she was facing, she was taken back. She switched the lights on, checking if it was really him. When he saw her face, he couldn't pinpoint her emotions, was it angriness, surprise, awkwardness? She had never been so hard to decipher but it was probably because he was too stressed about her reactions.

She looked him upside-down, still weighing if she could trust him or not. She obviously was puzzled by his lack of pointy armure. He had made the choice to come in shirt and jeans, trying to look as normal as he could. Trying to make her feel comfortable.

"Drop the umbrella already. I will not hurt you. I never have." He had whispered the last sentence and turned his face. He hated that feeling, why was he so shy with her all of a sudden?

She pouted before dropping her umbrella and her bag next to her door, she then walked into her kitchen. Ignoring him completely.

This was not going to be easy.

As he prepared himself to chase her down in the streets, she got back and put a glass of water in front of him. As she sat on the longer part of the L-shaped couch, she said "some water", obviously not at ease with what was happening.

That made them two.

She was not turning her back to him or facing him, which was a blessing for him and the fact he was surely blushing right now.

He looked briefly at her before he pushed his grocery bag toward her. "Chinese food."

She gave him a questioning look, he felt obliged to add: "Every time I kidnap you at dusk, you are starving. And you seemed to like Chinese food." Well, she mostly ate _his_ food. He was quite sure she did it to annoy him at first, but as time went by she also seemed to take a liking to it.

"Mmh, thank you."

She took the packet, which was still quite hot, and looked at it, thoughtfully.

"It's not poisoned." He said, pointedly.

For some reason it made her laugh. "I thought it was Japanese food. Never would have guessed you ate Chinese food."

"There's no Japanese restaurant near the Technodrome."

He felt more at ease and looked at her. She, on the other side, seemed a bit off. As if she was trying to understand what plan he had this time. He had to make her forget about the Shredder and think about him, Oroku. He suddenly realized that she might not know his real name. Anyway, he had to concentrate and go on.

"I saw your last interview. It was nice."

She was taken aback by his sentence but she still answered: "Thank you. It wasn't really fun to do but at least I got a sort of promotion for it."

Another silence. She was now looking at him directly in the eye. She didn't seem scared anymore. The instant seemed to stretch into minutes as they only looked at one another. She knew why he was here, and she was not scared. He felt relieved about that single fact. Feeling this was the right time, he chose to lean a bit closer and put his hand over hers.

"April..."

"No."

She looked away as he shrunk back to his original stance. He grabbed his glass and prepared for what he saw in her eyes; rejection.

"What?" His voice had already dropped to his habitual tone, giving her chills because she was suddenly facing Shredder again. He immediately regretted this, he hadn't planned to scare her.

Still, she faced him and said: "You and me. It's not possible."

It hurt him even though he knew he would have to face it. Face the fact that nothing was meant to happen between them. Whatever he could do would not be enough to change that.

He gave her an infuriated glare. And she shrunk back just a bit but enough to satisfy him.

"You didn't seem so resolute last time." His voice was now more menacing. He was now gripping his glass tightly.

"I… It's…" She took a deep breath before she spoke again, looking at him directly: "Last time was nothing."

He had mixed feelings. Anger, sadness… He had confessed to her. At the time, he thought he was in a dream. Before he could only wish they would have some gentle interaction between the kidnapping and the usual fight. And all of a sudden, not only did she kissed him, but she also let him make love to her.

The hurting he felt seemed to outstand all of his precedent deceptions. "Nothing? I should have known that you were that kind of women. The kind that just sleeps with whatever man is close enough."

He saw pain flashing through her eyes before it was replaced by some furious hatred. They were back to their first meeting when he was just an evil genius and her his hostage.

"You're a monster, that's why nothing could ever happen between us!" She had cried this sentence as she rose to her feet.

He heard nothing as he took the meaning of what she said. It hurt more than he thought. This was surely not what he had planned, as a matter of fact, he hadn't planned anything. But it was certainly not what he had sought.

He looked at her with the most hateful glare he could manage to give, she had a horrified look. He felt satisfied and grinned until he realized she was looking at his left hand, which was bleeding abundantly. He had shattered the glass he had been previously holding.

He got up as she spoke again: "You see! You have no self-control, you just do as you want. This is a difference between you and me."

"Self-control? Self-control?! Are you seriously saying this to me? You practically jumped me in the control room! Now tell me what it was for you."

She seemed taken aback, obviously she didn't want to answer that question.

"Tell me!" He had shouted, frightening her in the process.

"I already told you!" She whined while walking away.

"I want you to look at me and say it!" He had grasped her wrist. Making sure she would not slip away to avoid the end of the discussion.

"It was just a fling, a one-night thing!" She shouted those words at him, her look was filled with fear and hatred. He felt ludicrous, how could he believe that love could come from their relationship? He released his grip, letting her go in the process.

He had his answer. He pressed his left hand to try to stop the bleeding. He had the sudden impression he just got back on earth. As if he had dreamed all the rest. He walked to the door, passing before without even glancing at her. The newly found silence was oppressive. He stopped just before he was about to exit: "I have feelings you know."

He then went away.

Some mere seconds after he started to walk down the stairs she had gotten out. She looked like she was about to shout his name but stopped at the last moment. Yes, shouting the name of one of the most well-known villains of the town was not advised. And yes, she obviously didn't know his real name.

He proceeded to run for a reason. He now knew that his feelings were just… feelings. They would just go away the moment she would go away. He just needed her out of his life.

Still, she had run after him, hurtling down the stairs to try to catch him up. But he had been quicker. Whatever she wanted with him, he didn't want to know. His head was now cleared, he knew what he had to do. As he exited her building, he broke his shirt to bandage his hand as to leave no trace and then disappeared into the crowd.

Leaving her no chance to catch up with him.


	3. Chapter 3

**April O'Neil**

She was running down her stairs, chasing after the "Asian guy". She was running so fast she nearly tripped, but she never caught up with him. She exited her building, searching him in the crowd of people going with their everyday life.

"I have feelings you know?"

She could still remember his tone, angry and lonely at the same time.

And she woke up.

She had dreams of that fateful evening for a month now. Since that day she never saw Shredder again, and she had to admit she was feeling lonely. Plus, it sure didn't help her get through with her dreams.

When she saw him in her living room, she really didn't know what to do. She still had the conversation with the turtles on her mind. She had decided that the benefits for that relationship couldn't compare with the sacrifices.

But he said _the phrase_ , she understood what was going on. As if she had been on another planet while they had talked together. She understood that he obviously had feelings for her. More than she could have believed. But it was too late, he had run off and she hadn't been able to catch up with him.

It was still early in the morning but she chose to get up and go on with her life. She had an interview to do about a guy that had bought French car parts and then made a car out of it. She couldn't pinpoint why someone would do that, but at least the man seemed sympathetic.

* * *

After her last interview was done, she decided to go to the turtle hideout. She knew that Shredder was obviously avoiding her, making her and the turtles meet on rarer occasions. So now, instead of partying with them after her latest kidnapping, she would just stop by on her way back from work.

"April! You're just in time for Baywatch!"

"Mickey, hey! I'm not sure I'll watch it with you this time." She gently hugged him as he invited her in the lair.

Splinter straighten up to greet her: "April, it's nice to have you with us. Would you like some tea?"

"I'd prefer a coke if you don't mind."

"You're the guest here." He walked disappeared into the kitchen while the other turtles greeted her. Soon they were all eating chips and drinking coke, except for Splinter who drank tea, while they talked about their daily lives.

April wasn't dumb. She knew that Shredder's plan must involve some kidnapping at some point. But she never asked, and they never told her either. It was some kind of untold agreement between them.

The Turtles explained Shredder's latest plan to April. As always it was quite ridiculous. It implied a lot of gum to try to immobilize them. The turtles, especially Mickey who had stopped watching Baywatch to describe a fight. Everything was going smoothly until Raphael talked, his tone quite cutting and harsh.

"Guys, we should tell her."

"Tell her what? There's nothing to tell Raph!" Mickey quickly replied but his voice showed signs of nervousness.

The other turtles didn't say anything but exchanged looks between them. April prepared herself for the terrible news that was coming.

Leonardo turned to face her: "April, Shredder now kidnaps other girls."

Relief showed on her face: "I already knew that. How else could he have you get in a bubble gum factory?" She laughed lightly. She really thought that the news would be worst.

All the Turtles seemed to relax at her reaction. Except for Raphael who still had an angry look.

"Look April, I don't know what happened between you and Shredder and, really, I'm not sure I _want_ to know. But he now kidnaps the weather girl. Just her. He replaced you."

Michelangelo seemed to want to add something but Leonardo shushed him with a "he's right, she deserves to know."

On her part, April got the impression she just got knocked off. Him kidnapping other people was a thing, but him kidnapping a specific girl again and again. The feeling was horrible. As if she was just expendable. And, to add salt to the wound, the weather girl was a bimbo, even more than her.

The group was now watching her intently. They all had a different emotion. Raphael looked angry, Leonardo looked uneased, Michelangelo seemed sad, Donatello looked thoughtful and Splinter had his poker face, as always.

"I had an argument with him… More of a fight. I guess he is fed up with me."

She felt the need to explain. She needed them as friends to support her, not as friends trying to put the missing pieces together.

"That makes sense. You must have a big fight to get this reaction from him." Leonardo answered what the others didn't say.

"If he hurt you, tell us. We'll kick his ass!" Michelangelo told why kicking the air with his fists.

"No, no don't worry. He never hurt me."

That was what he actually told her last time. And it was quite true. In fact, she was pretty sure she was the one that hurt him.

"If you want, next time we get a call from him you can come with us."

The group turned to Donatello that had just spoken.

"Why would she want to come with us?" Michelangelo innocently asked.

"Because, without the Shredder, she has to do a lot of stupid interviews. Even if she's not the centre of the attention she might like to get some footage."

"Yes, that's a great idea! Anything but those stupid interviews on the world records!"

The conversation went on. The turtles planned to take her on their next mission without putting her in too much danger. Their little meeting went on and the finally bought pizzas. Even if Shredder seemed to have lost interest in her, she was glad to have her friends with her.

* * *

Tonight was the night. The turtles had called her and they would pick her up in ten minutes. She hurriedly put her jumpsuit on, packed her portative camera and additional tapes just in case there would be a lot to record.

When the turtles offered to take her on a mission she had directly agreed. It took her less than a second to understand that would be her chance to meet him. Shredder had threatened to destroy the city by mining under it if he didn't get a huge ransom. The turtles' plan was to get in the Technodrome to neutralize it. Her plan was to, first, record the encounter, second, get in the Technodrome after the battle to have a discussion with the damn man.

She had thought about it. About all of it. And she had decided that a real talk was necessary. A talk where she would be a bit less harsh with him. A talk to end it.

The trip to the Technodrome was silent. Everyone was focused on their task.

The fight was rougher than she what she recalled. Donatello was off to stop the Technodrome, Raphael was fighting BeeBop and Rocksteady, and Mickey and Leonardo fought against Shredder. And the two of them were having trouble to stop him. She had managed to record the fight while being discreetly hidden. At some point, it was obvious that the two turtles couldn't manage to stop Shredder but hopefully, that was not the point of the mission. Donatello had told them he needed fifteen minutes to hijack the Technodrome, so after more or less ten minutes April made a quick sign to Mickey to make him understand she was off to see Donatello. Which of course was not true. She was off to find a good hiding place.

Michelangelo gave her a thumb, which of course made Shredder realize someone was there. He turned his face just when she got out of her hiding place. The eye contact seemed to last a few minutes when in fact it only lasted a few seconds. She only had time to see him get a nasty punch in the face from Leonardo.

She heard a loud "thump" as he slumped to the ground but he must have still been able to fight as she heard Leonardo shout in pain.

She suddenly questioned her lack of realization. This was dangerous.

But it was still worth it.

She ran into a hallway too familiar. She tried the bedroom where all had begun, it was opened. She quickly hid in it and started her stopwatch. In less than twenty minutes she would have a proper conversation with Shredder and, hopefully, all could go back to what it used to be.

* * *

Bip Bip Bip Bip…

She stopped her stopwatch. It now dawned on her that she was more than probably alone with her enemies in their HQ. The best was to avoid Beebop and Rocksteady, try to get directly to Shredder.

She tiptoed out of the room, leaving the camera behind her to give her more chance of outrunning any possible threat.

Avoiding Beebop and Rocksteady was far easier than she had planned. They were making a fuss in the hall room. They even mentioned the fact that Shredder was in the control room, making all this too easy for her to enjoy.

Now, she had to quickly get to the control room before he spotted her with his cameras. She didn't think twice when she got into the room. She was here for a reason.

He was on the main computer. He didn't bother to turn as he shouted: "Beebop, Rocksteady, I already told you to leave me alone!"

His voice seemed angrier than usual but it didn't frighten her. She stopped a few feets behind him: "Well, sorry but it's not your two goofballs sidekicks."

When he heard her voice he stopped what he was doing.

"April?"

He turned to look at her, checking that she really was there. Even though he still had his mask he looked astonished for a few seconds before he glared at her.

"Out, now!"

She was prepared to have a fight with him but not to get kicked out before anything could be said.

"What? No, I'm not getting anywhere until things get solved!"

He didn't bother to listen to her as he already was calling his acolyte: "Beebop, Rocksteady, get in the control room. NOW."

"But boss…" He stopped the communication before Beebop finished his sentence and got back to what he was doing earlier.

"What do you think you are doing? I won't let you ignore me!"

"Well, I'm sorry Miss O'Neil but some people have an important task to tend to. Contrary to you."

"So, you are saying our issue isn't important?"

"What issue? I do not quite understand what you are talking about Miss."

"Don't play with me Shredder. You've been avoiding me."

"Wasn't it the point? Didn't you say there was nothing between us? I thought I was doing you a favour."

He was acting like he always was. Trying to be dramatic as if he was in a drama show.

She didn't answer as he went on typing furiously on his keyboard. The face of Beebop appeared on the screen.

"Beebop, when will you get here!"

"But Boss, we can't! Krang told us we had to do something with the machines."

"Yeah, you know the machines in the hall room." Piped Rocksteady.

"Goddamnit, they are useless as always."

Shredder then turned to April, he was about to close the distance between them when Krang's horrible face was displayed.

"Shhhrederr! Don't you dare stop your task!" The alien-brain face suddenly contorted into a terrible mix between anger and surprise. "What is she doing here Shhhredder? I thought we wouldn't kidnap here anymore!"

"She entered on her own. I'm getting her out now." As Shredder said that he grasped April's wrists painfully.

"Ouch, you're hurting me!" April gave her some kicks which, of course, didn't lend. "I'm not getting out of her until things get back to normal!"

"Shhhredderr, back to the computer. NOW! We'll get rid of her later on."

With that, Krang's face disappeared from the screen, leaving only diagrams, numbers and flashing lights.

Shredder looked at April for an instant, not sure of what he should do. He then got her on his shoulder, like he used to do.

"I'm getting you out."

"What? No! I want to speak with you."

"There's nothing to say!"

She couldn't see his face but she felt the pain in his words. She really hurt him last time.

Shredder began to run to the exit. He was obviously in a hurry to finish whatever he had begun on his computer.

"Gosh, could you be a little gentler?"

"No, there's no time for that. You need to get out now."

At those words, it dawned on her that something wasn't right. At that moment, sirens blared and the lights went red. He didn't have time to react as he lost his balance and fell on the floor with April.

At first, April thought something had gone terribly wrong. But she then realized that the terrific sound she heard was just Shredder's helmet hitting the ground next to her. They were now a mangled mess on the floor. She didn't hurt that much but he, obviously, must have hit his head severely.

She detangled herself and got up while he sat on the floor, holding his head.

"Wait, I'll take it off for you."

"No, I don't need your help."

"Stop being difficult already."

As she said that, she proceeded to take off his helmet, with or without his approval. He was so disoriented that he didn't have time to stop her. She looked carefully at his scalp, finding a little bump but nothing too serious.

"It's okay, just a little bump. I think you're disoriented because of the sound it made more than anything."

Already getting his sense back, Shredder stood up: "Again, I don't need your help."

He wasn't facing her but it didn't stop her from noticing the slight blush he had on his ears.

"Give me my helmet."

"No."

He gave her a stern look.

"Why not?"

"Because it's dented." She said vehemently, but the truth was she just wanted to mess with him. And this was really the easiest way to do so.

He sighed and then took the path to the control room.

"Hey dummy, I thought you wanted to get me out of her."

He snorted: "I'm pretty sure that it's too late for that."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"That you probably don't want to get out right now."

Defeated she stopped talking. He was being as difficult as her little nephew, and that was something. But she also knew that, if Shredder changed his plans, it wasn't an insignificant choice.

They made their way back to the great hall. April didn't see Beebop and Rocksteady but she could hear them, they weren't far away. Shredder opened a door that lead them to an even bigger room. It was full of electronic devices and at the end of the room was a throne. On that throne, a little-animated bubblegum like brain was shouting at his subordinate. It was Krang.

"Boss, we promis' it wasn't our fault." Whined Beebop.

"Yeah, we did everything you told us." Added Rocksteady.

"I know, it wasn't your fault for once. Here is the troublemaker: Shredder!"

"Where are we?"

At those words, Krang, who obviously had been waiting for excuses, changed colour. Passing from a light pink to a deep red.

"Where are we? Is this really your question? Where do you think we are?!"

"Dimension X?"

"Yes! Yes, yes and yes! All by your fault!"

Their bickering went on but April didn't listen anymore. Dimension X. She had never been to Dimension X and now she was stuck in here.

"Wait! How do we get back!"

She spoke without thinking, cutting Krang's lecture short. Shredder just looked at her, Krang answered directly.

"Well little reporter. How do you think we'll get back hum?"

"You always get back! Isn't this thing teleporting?"

Shredder gave her a simple answer: "Yes. But the Turtles damaged some circuits and obviously introduced a bug that I couldn't have stopped one way or another." Shredder glared at Krang while he said those last words.

"What does it mean?" She knew what it meant, she wasn't stupid but she couldn't help it. She had to hear it.

"It means we are all stuck here until we found a way out." Shredder told her gravely.


	4. Chapter 4

**April O'Neil**

« No ! Let me go ! »

Shredder was dragging April around the Technodrome, roughly pulling her whenever she managed to stop.

After he told her their fate, aka being stuck in another dimension, Krang had begun to shout viciously that she must be taken care of. How? She didn't plan to know but Shredder had immediately taken her by the arm, hurting her and dragging her in the now dark corridors of the Technodrome.

"Why are you obeying to his order all of a sudden? Answer me!"

She was trying to make him speak by all means. She would be prepared to use any possible way to avoid death. And talking was one of them.

He gave her a nasty pull, twisting painfully her wrist. Tears began to fall down as she visualized him throwing her to her death in space.

"You don't have to do that! Don't you want me to stay alive? I'll do anything! Please!"

He wasn't listening to her, or he was hiding well. Or perhaps he didn't give a fuck. This was a fucking twisted ending to her life. How did she get in this shit? She thought back to her family, her friends… She wouldn't be able to see them again. They wouldn't even be able to bury her.

Bigger tears came, ruining her make-up but at this point, she really didn't care.

He suddenly opened a door and threw her in a room without bothering to switch on the lights. She landed on what seemed to be a bed.

Really?

In less than a second, he was on her. Straddling her little frame and securing her. She couldn't flee. Was she about to get raped? As he leant on her, locking her wrists over her head she shouted: "I hate you!"

"Don't you dare shout at me again!"

His voice made her jump out of her skin. He seemed furious. He got up, took something in a dresser and secured her ankles together with ducktape. As she tried to get up, she realized that he had handcuffed her to the bedpost.

He opened the door, letting some light in.

"You don't try to free yourself, you don't move and you don't even make a noise. If you respect those conditions I assure your life won't be endangered."

With those words, he went away. The door closed on her, leaving alone in the dark.

* * *

 **Oroku Saki**

She hated him. And she had good reasons to. He had just locked her up in a dark bedroom. But he had no other choice.

When he got home from their last "meeting", Krang had understood everything. The damn thing was intelligent. Even if they had their arguments, they also had a sort of friendship. Which meant the little brain first wanted to kill the reporter to "wash him from her offence". It had taken him a long time to calm Krang down. He knew that the alien was capable of the worse, and he preferred April to be alive.

But now, all of them were in the Technodrome, meaning that Krang could throw her in space any time.

Sighing, he walked back to the great hall knowing well what was about to happen.

"What is she doing here!" The high-pitched voice of Krang made him cringe.

"She got in with the turtles."

"We should get rid of her now!"

"You mean we should be evaluating the state of the Technodrome!"

Krang gave him a defiant look: "Where is she? She could make things worse by the minute!"

"I took care of that. She won't be a problem. Now let's take care of what is important."

Krang gave an angered cry before turning to a control panel. Taping some instructions, some graphs and numbers appeared on the screen.

"As you can see. We have less than a third of energy left. The damn turtles fried some of our computer and some of our batteries! Rounding it up, we don't know where we are and we barely have the energy left to make a single interdimensional trip."

Krang twisted his little tentacles, waiting for the question that he knew could only come from the stupider group members.

"But boss. I don't understand we can travel back no?" Beebop asked sheepishly.

Krang turned abruptly, sending his tentacles upward in a sign of great anger.

"No, you stupid moron! I said we don't know where we are! Which means we can't travel back to earth."

Beebop scratched his snout, thinking. "I still don't understand."

Krang was about to shout again but Shredder intervened: "Stop it already, your bickering won't lead us anywhere! We should better work on a way home. Before we collide with a planet."

"Well, that's the interesting part. We actually landed on a planet. No idea which one but still a planet."

"Perhaps we could go and ask for help?" Rocksteady said, looking like a child trying to help.

"When I look at you two, I don't know which one is the stupidest but, whatever, you both deserve an award! I'm a wanted criminal in dimension X. So, if we go out and find someone, we'll have a big target on us. And no way to protect ourselves with the Technodrome or the Foot Soldiers because we're missing power."

Rocksteady and Beebop seemed to tense at the idea, finally understanding what was at stake.

Shredder, not showing any sign of fear, came back in the discussion. "So, I guess we should run some equations to figure where we are and where my dimension is."

"That is more easily said than done. Half of our computers are fried. So it might take time."

"I'll find a way. As always."

"We might die before you find a way." Krang was again moving his tentacles excitedly, waiting for Shredder to ask what he had just implied.

"What is the problem then?", Shredder said with an angry tone, not liking what he sensed was about to be said.

"We won't have enough food to survive more than six months. And, to have enough energy to jump through dimensions we'll have to save it."

"Which means?"

"It means they'll be no automatic lights in the Technodrome, and that we'll have to cut on the heating expenses."

"We'll manage." Shredder gave a nonchalant shrug, ready to end this conversation and get on with what needed to be done.

But Krang didn't see things like that: "We should get rid of her before she makes things worst. If we kill her, we'll have enough food for 9 months."

"No. We're not killing her."

"It's a life or death choice. Killing her is giving us more chances to survive! End this petty infatuation already!"

"I said: We. Are. Not. Killing. Her!"

They were now facing each other, both equally red with anger.

"I like the reporter too! I want her to stay!" eagerly said Rocksteady.

"Yeah! Let's take her with us! She could be our pet!"

"What?" Shredder had suddenly turned to face the mutants. Daggers could be seen in his eyes.

"Yeah, you know, like in championships. There's that guy dressed as a kangaroo, jumping around!" gingerly said Beebop.

Relief washed over Shredder. Those two didn't plan to touch her, they were just too stupid to know the word mascot.

Krang chose to resign and said: "Do whatever you want with her as long as nobody gets out and she doesn't mess with the machines. And Shredder, you be cutting your food rations to give some to her. You want her to stay? Then you'll pay the price. I'll be working on saving the energy we have left and getting some computers to work. Shredder, you just find a way to get us back to earth."

He then went to his bedroom, definitely ending the conversation.

After all the shouting that had just occurred, the silence seemed eerie. Rocksteady and Beebop didn't know what to do, and Shredder was thinking what he should do now. Free the reporter or work first?

"Hey, boss…" Beebop said softly.

"What?"

"Well, we have nothing to do."

"You have something to do you moron. Wait quietly here. And don't interfere with my researches!"

Shredder turned to walk to the control room, preferring the calm of mathematics to what awaited him when he would see April, but Beebop stopped him.

"Well, yeah. But the reporter has nothing to do too. Perhaps we could do nothing together?"

"Definitely not happening. Don't even think about getting near her."

"We don't even know where she is boss…" piped up Rocksteady.

"Even better!" cried Shredder as he entered the control room.

OOO

Four hours had passed. He had worked his butt out on basics analyzing of the environment to no avail. The jungle-like planet was unknown to them. He had made a quick scan that had proven useful. There was life on this planet, animals or perhaps humans. But no ships or anything alike.

He looked a last time at the clock, in New-York city it was past midnight. He wanted to sleep after his shitty day but he also didn't want to leave the damn woman alone. His rational mind kept on repeating to himself that he couldn't trust her, that she would probably worsen their current situation. But he also had to admit he was afraid of what would happen to her if Krang suddenly changed his mind. Or if Beebop and Rocksteady suddenly got bad ideas like they always had.

Sighing heavily, he got up and walked to the bedroom where April was tied up. Beebop and Rocksteady were sleeping on the couches of the great hall. At least, they wouldn't bother him if they slept.

As he walked in the darkened corridors of the Technodrome, he tried to predict how she would act when he would free her. He knew she was about to hit him, probably trying to kill him if she managed to untie herself.

The door opened with a light "swoosh" and they immediately made eye contact. She was in the same position as before. Seeing her laying on a bed, tied to his wills woke up some dark fantasy in him but he immediately pushed them aside. He had already decided that the women brought more problems than he could cope with.

Switching on the lights, he came near her. As he was freeing her ankles he wondered why she wasn't shouting or crying like she did earlier. After her ankles, he freed her wrists. He now knew that he probably tied them to securely as she had angry red marks showing up on her lovely white skin.

"I have to go to the bathroom."

"It's that door." He pointed at the second door of the small room.

She got up slowly, obviously analyzing him and his actions. He didn't move, just watched her slowly going and locking herself in the bathroom.

He knew that there was no way out of this room other than the main door. The bathroom was small and had nothing more than soap and toilet paper. Nothing else was required in the "guests" rooms.

He weighted the manacles he had specially created for "the occasion". He really wished he could let her be, but he couldn't afford the risk. The risk of losing her, his or his friend's life.

She came back into the room looking a little better as she had managed to take off the ruined make up. She immediately spotted the manacles resting in his hands.

"What are you doing with that?"

He got up, facing her: "I'm sorry, I have no choice."

He closed on her, already feeling her tense up. "No, there's other choices possible. I won't bother you."

"I can't take you up on your words. Not this time, there's too much at stake."

He tried to keep his voice low but it came out a horribly cold way.

"No!" She suddenly jumped at him, managing to bring the heavy chain right into his left eye. The pain stroke him, incapacitating him for a second, but not enough for her to have a real chance to flee.

He caught her by the waist as she tried to pass by him and pushed her again on the bed. She landed face down, allowing him to secure her again and lock her wrists with the heavy metallic manacles.

"I knew you would do that eventually."

She answered nothing. But still sat on the edge of the bed when he got up, freeing her in the process.

She looked closely at the manacles, slowly understanding their functionment and he felt obliged to comment: "As you can see, those manacles will secure you but they also leave you a lot of freedom. You won't feel as free as a bird in a few days."

"I believe the fact that being locked in a room will be enough of a reminder that I'm currently chained down."

She gave him what was probably her meanest look. It hurt him a bit but it quickly faded away by the fact he knew he had no other options and that he was terribly tired.

"Let's sleep."

"What?" She seemed taken aback by his last sentence as she now had a wide look.

"I said let's sleep."

"I'm not doing anything with you." She said, angrily moving the manacle's chains to strengthen things out.

Shredder went to the bedpost and secured the other end of the chain, definitely chaining her to the bed.

"I just said let's sleep. I didn't mention anything else."

She gave him a confused look, obviously not believing him.

"You may believe what you want miss O'Neil but some are not charmed as easily as you think."

"Well, I didn't hear you complain last time."

"We're not talking about that."

He went out, closing the discussion there. He didn't want to speak about it any more than they already had. She told him her feelings, it was enough. No need to rub salt in the wound. Going to the next bedroom he came back with a fluffy blanket and a pillow.

"Why did you come back?" she hastily said as he entered the room.

"I'm sleeping here."

"What?"

She suddenly seemed a lot less assured.

"What are you afraid of? I'm not the one lurking others in bed." He dropped the blanket and the pillow on the floor while she silently pouted on the bed.

Of course, he had forgotten to change before coming to her. As she wasn't tied up anymore, he was too afraid to leave her alone. The damn women had many tricks up her sleeves. But he was also adamant on the fact he didn't want her near his room.

He would do without his pyjamas.

He switched off the lights and laid on the blanket.

None of them spoke to each other but eventually, April got under her own blanket and both fell asleep.

* * *

Hello!

I'm not dead, and I wrote a new chapter, yay!

I hope you'll all like it!

Thanks for ShreddieJ's comments, please tell me if you like the new chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

**April O'Neil**

Days went by with Shredder trying to keep her at a relative distance as they didn't speak much yet he wouldn't let her sleep alone and would take her nearly anywhere he went.

As time went by, she understood that it wasn't only related to the fact she might "blow things up" but it probably also was about her security. Krang's mean looks were enough of a proof.

But April was a woman of action. And waiting for Shredder to find a way out wasn't really what she could call action. She really needed to do something. _Anything_.

Every day seemed the same to her. Getting up – breakfast - he would take her to the control room and he would try to find a way back to earth while she waited, doing nothing – lunch – again the control room – dinner – then sleep.

Hopefully, Shredder was right, her manacles left her a lot of freedom. But anyway, she had nothing to do. So more or less free or not, changed nothing. She was still waiting

This was more and more looking like a living hell. The waiting room of hell as she was always waiting in the corner of the control room.

Well, at least there's probably something to read in the waiting room of hell. Which of course was not the case here. First, she had asked for magazines but she wasn't too surprised when he answered he had none. She then had asked for books, or anything to read and she was really surprised when he had genuinely told her he had nothing to give her. So, she was left doing nothing.

Sitting on what she now called "her chair" all she could do was lie down on what she also called "her table". At first, she was ok because she needed time to find a plan. A plan to get back to New York as soon as possible.

But she soon realized that this was not a situation she was used to. Shredder told her they were floating around in space which meant going out was a no-no. So, the real question was, what could she do to get back home? Nothing.

And she understood why Krang and Shredder seemed so tensed. They were really stuck. A whole week had passed without even the hint of good news.

Looking at his back for what seemed to be the twentieth time in less than an hour she gave a big sigh.

"Stop that already." Shredder didn't even bother to look up from his computer.

"I would if I had something else to do."

He still didn't bother to look up.

She looked at him again, wondering how she ended there. The situation had gone so far away from what she thought would happen. She now knew that she had missed him.

She didn't miss the action in itself but more of the "friendship" that went with it.

Like the day she was so hungry, he had shared with her some of his food.

"Shredder."

"What?" He seemed really focused on what he was doing.

"I miss the gonglao chicken."

He stopped taping on his computer and turned around to look at her.

"The what?"

"Come on, don't try to make me believe you forgot! You know, the food we used to eat together when you kidnapped me late in the evenings."

He didn't answer right back but still had a strange look. He seemed shared between two different feelings.

Just to clear up things, April added: "It would be a lot better than the honey sandwiches."

"Eating rocks would be better than those sandwiches."

As always, he went for the dramatic answer which made her laugh. He gave her a small smile and went back to his work.

They had made a lot of progress as he had been terrible the first few days. When she had decided to come and talk to him she thought she would see Shredder as he always was. Arrogant and self-infatuated.

But instead, she realized he had been hurt. Really hurt.

They day they had kissed and well… did more than kiss… seemed to have happened years ago. She had obviously fucked up big because the man was adamant on the fact he didn't want to speak about it anymore they already had.

Which meant they would now have very basic and distant discussion.

Far from what they had before when they bickered at one another.

She sighed again, stretching her arms and legs.

He got up and looked at her: "Don't move."

He then exited the room as if it was completely normal.

It wasn't.

This was the first time he left her alone in a week. April instantly got up, looking around to know what she could do. And that was the question, do something, yes, but what exactly?

She did a quick scan: computers, computers and … her chair and her table. What could she do? Even if she managed to get out, where would she get? Float in space until she crashes on an unknown planet or be picked up by aliens?

She sat back just before he came back.

He froze instantly when he saw her sitting quietly.

"You didn't blow up the place."

Even though his sentence was affirmative, he sounded astonished.

"Come on, I'm not always blowing things up."

"As a matter of fact, from my perspective, yes."

"Your plans are too crappy too begin with."

"Why am I even trying? Here take this and stop bothering me."

He shoved a notebook and a pen on her table before going back to his computer.

"What's that?"

"It's something to make you busy."

"Thanks, I guess…" She tried to annoy him but he didn't answer back. Well, it looked like she had to entertain herself with that notebook.

She looked at it, when she opened she discovered some pages had been ripped off. What was left was a blank book. Nothing to look at on any of the leftovers sheets. She looked at the book cover and discovered that a single thing was written on the inside of the book cover.

It was some Japanese writing and an annotation: Oroku Saki.

Of course, she knew that Shredder wasn't his real name. Plus, she had investigated on him. And found nothing, not even his name. The man was good at hiding.

She looked at him again, he had no idea he just revealed to her his real identity.

She looked back at the tiny writing, more of a reminder than anything else. She looked at the rest of the book, the missing sheets had been neatly cut off.

Looking at this notebook, she could assume that the man was diligent and organized. The kind of man who works efficiently.

Looking at The Shredder, she assumed he was a big brute with little but no education.

She must have missed something somewhere.

Thinking back at it, the man was Japanese but spoke perfect English. He never had any accent. Splinter had been clear about the fact Shredder grew up in Japan. And by the looks of this book, he probably learnt English when he was already an adult.

April could only come to one conclusion. The man was smarter than she initially thought. How could he be smart and still come up with messy plans stayed a mystery though.

When she signed papers, she always wrote April O'Neil. Which meant his first name was probably Oroku and his last name Saki. She had to remember this in case it could be of any use later on.

She then began to write in the book. She decided she would make a dairy as to not forget anything. She knew it could be gold when she'll be back at work.

When Shredder got up and came to her, she clamped to her new exercise book.

"Relax miss O'Neil, I'm not taking the book from you. Time to eat."

"I'm taking it with me."

He silently detached her chains and went to the great hall. A big table was in the center of the room and Rocksteady was setting down the plates.

They all silently sat down. Krang was at the "king place". Ready to judge them all and to give April death glares. She would always sit next to Shredder and face Rocksteady or Beebop as they often exchanged their own places. Today, Rocksteady sat in front of her. He gave her a big smile.

"Today, I made dinner Miss O'Neil!"

"Oh, thank you Rocksteady! It's really nice of you!" She responded with a smile too but it quickly faltered as she looked at some strange tomato soup with some small meatballs. She gave a quick glance to their plates and realized Shredder and her had smaller portions. As always. At first, she thought it was because Beebop and Rocksteady had mistakenly made smaller portion but now she knew it was systematic. A new mystery to uncover.

The group began to eat in silence. As always. The air was tense but strangely the first to break the silence was Rocksteady.

"So…uhm… April, do you like my meatball stew?"

"Oh, yes it's really… tasty."

Rocksteady seemed to suddenly glow with happiness: "It's better than Beebop's honey sandwiches no?"

Beebop suddenly glared at his friend, not too happy with what was just said: "You dumbass, stop bo'dering her with your stupid questions."

"Yes, stop bothering Miss O'Neil," Shredder added with a dangerously low voice.

"No, he's not bothering me! Yes, I do prefer your meatball stew even if Beebop's sandwiches were the best honey sandwiches I ever ate." And hopefully the only she was to ever eat… "But tell me please, _Rocksteady_ , why do I and Shredder have little portions?"

Rocksteady was about to answer her but Krang decided otherwise: "Well you see, _Miss April_ , at first I believed you were better _dead_. But Shredder wouldn't allow it so, as I believe your existence isn't necessary, I also believe you shouldn't spoil the little food we have left. Thus he cuts his parts in half. And I have to say it's a surprisingly stupid act coming from him."

Okay, mystery solved. But Krang just got to a new level of creepiness. He now looked at her with his crazy grin of his, giving her chicken skin as there was no doubt that he meant we he just said.

"Ya know, if ya want you can have some of mine too." Beebop said, popping a meatball in her plate.

"You are not giving her your food!" Shredder and Krang exploded at the same time. The little brain-like creature was now red with anger from the fact he didn't want April's time in the Technodrome getting easier. As for Shredder, he just looked terribly menacing.

Krang was the first to speak again as Beebop and Rocksteady were stunned by Shredder's mean look.

"You are not working, so you are no use for us. So, you're not getting food. End. Enjoy the fact you haven't been sent to your death yet."

"But I could work!"

For a second Krang looked taken aback by her sudden outburst. She didn't realize it but she had risen up and had just shouted the words. She looked at Shredder who still seemed upset but also surprised.

"I can work! I have nothing to do." She said, this time more quietly. She sat back, trying to give the impression she wasn't as demanding as she really was.

"Well, if that's what you want..."

"She's staying with me. We already discussed it. Weren't you afraid she would run off and blow up the rest of the technodrome?" Shredder said to Krang. It seemed to April she wouldn't be the one to choose.

"Yes, I remember Shrrreddder. But the lovely woman seems to want to work. Why not allow her?" Krang's voice was suddenly really gentle and smooth. If you didn't know him – and ignore the fact it was a walking brain and fang-like teeth- you could almost believe he was a nice guy.

But April knew better, and by the tone of Krang, she knew she had fucked up somewhere.

"She's staying with me. End of discussion."

"But boss! You can't keep here to yourself!" Rocksteady jumped in.

"Yas, you should let her come with us. Make food." Beebop added.

"I can cook." April said, in a matter of fact voice. Anyway, cooking with the two mutants seemed better than doing whatever Krang could suggest.

Krang was making a face, not happy with the turns of thing. On the other hand, Shredder seemed uninterested: "If you can improve the food I don't mind."

She was disappointed to see so little reaction from him.

"So, Miss _April_ , from now on, you'll be cooking with Beebop and Rocksteady. It's settled."

* * *

Now that April was alone with Beebop and Rocksteady, she began to regret her choice. Shredder, well, he was in some grey zone of hell where nothing made sense. But the two mutants were still very much her old enemies. Nothing else. And not having any kind of protection from the only other human on board made her feel like Little Red Riding Hood in the middle of the forest. With two big and stupid wolfs.

"So, ya see, we have a lot of cans." Told he Beebop as he opened the pantry.

They seemed eager to show her what was now her new job as both had spent time showing her the gigantic kitchen.

"What's that?" April asked, pointing to a big metallic door.

"That's the cold chamber." Rocksteady answered.

"We also put all the bodies of the guys we killed there", added Beebop, making himself and Rocksteady laugh uncontrollably.

April made a face, not sure if she could afford to not laugh or if she had to force herself. She silently went to the door and tried to open it.

"Na! Wait, I'll do it for ya." Beebop told her as he came next to her.

He opened the door and made what she assumed was a bow. "Mi'Lady."

"Oh stop, you're just looking plain stupid!" Rocksteady shoved him off while April looked inside.

There was what seemed like some never-ending rows of meat and fish. There also were some metallic containers. As she looked inside, she realized they were containing herbs, rice and what looked like oat.

"Why have we been eating so ba… so uhm. You know?" April got her sense back just in time to not insult their cooking.

"What? I don't understand. Do you understand Beebop?"

"I didn't understand a thing."

"I mean, there fish and meat. But up until now, we ate what seemed like canned food."

"It was canned food!" spoke out Beebop.

"Yeah, canned food is delicious!" added Rocksteady.

"I uh…" April didn't know what to answer. "But what is planned for tonight?"

"Instant noodles!" the mutants cheered together. High-fiving in the air as old pals would do after a match.

How could they be as happy as that about instant noodles?

"But, how about I make you _real_ noodles?"

"You can do dat?" Both Beebop and Rocksteady said, looking at her in awe.

"Well, no." Already, she saw the hurt appearing in their eyes. "But I can try!"

"Yay!" They cheered together.

Now, April had to somehow come up with a recipe she didn't know. But it would still be better than Beebop's honey sandwiches.

Anything would be better.

As she prepared the food with the two goofballs, she understood why Shredder's plans never worked out. Both of them had little to no attention and managed to fail at the easiest tasks.

* * *

"It's delicious Miss O'Neil!" exclaimed Rocksteady.

"Yesh, it'sh delichioush." Added Beebop, his snout full of pastas.

April had to say she was not as convinced as they were. Because of the lack of actual bare noodles, they had chosen pastas. Also, she just came up with whatever crossed her mind to make the soup, which meant it lacked savour. To add to the shame, some lonely meat pieces were floating around, looking as if they wanted nothing to do with the rest of the dish that had sunken in the depth of the bowl.

"What is it supposed to be?" asked Shredder, picking some pastas up with his chopsticks and looking at them with disdain. Speaking for the first time since he sat at the table.

"It's beef noodles."

This time he looked at her with incredibility. "You call this beef noodles?"

"Well, we had no noodles to begin with." She began to explain but was soon cut by the man next to her.

"The noodles aren't the only thing wrong in this dish."

"Hey! You're not the one cooking so you have nothing to say. Plus, it's still better than the honey sandwiches." April could already feel the anger build up inside her which made her answer without thinking.

"Wat? But ya said they were good!" piped up Beebop.

April turned to him "As I said, they were the best honey sandwiches I ever ate."

"Don't lie to him _April,_ they were shitty."

April looked back at Shredder, not knowing where the conversation was going. Shredder hadn't called her April since … well…

"Boss! Dat's mean!"

"You're better of knowing the truth. This woman lies as easily as she breathes. Don't believe what she says." He dismissively added, gesturing a pork bite in her direction.

"Is it true Miss O'Neil?" Beebop asked, looking at her with puppy eyes.

"I'm... What? What did you just say?" April chose to ignore Beebop for the moment, focusing on Shredder.

"Yes Shrreeedddeeer, please tell us why you said that."

Everyone turned to look at Krang. They were all so absorbed in the honey sandwich/ April Shredder bickering that they forgot about the noisy little brain-like alien.

The silence that fell after Krang's question was short lived as Shredder answered: "She made a fuss to get some books and as soon as she got them, she went away cooking."

Krang made a face, obviously disappointed by the answer: "That's nothing to do with lying, Shrredder."

"That's enough for me to get mad." He answered with a matter of fact tone.

"Well, if that's the only thing that's bothering you I didn't want to hurt you. I only wanted to be useful."

"If you go on cooking as badly as this, I have to say you were more useful sitting on a chair."

* * *

She had overreacted.

Well, that's what she thought now that she was sitting on "her" bed alone and after Shredder had just erupted like a volcano.

But at the time, throwing the rest of the noodles on him seemed like a good idea to let go of her anger.

She couldn't say she really regretted that. But she surely regretted that he was again mad at her. It took time to get him back to a neutral state of mind and now everything was ruined over beef noodles.

As soon as they got back to the bedroom he stormed in the bathroom. Surely needing a shower after being drenched in the hazardous soup.

She _knew_ she had to apologize, or at least say something. But the fact was, she was too stubborn to apologize as she believed the man had insulted her. But she had a survival instinct. Or she had in the past as now she was trying hard to know where those instincts were when she acted. If she really had anything near survival instincts, she wouldn't have done that.

* * *

 **Oroku Saki**

For god sake, what had she thought? Yes, he had been a little mean but her reaction was excessive for someone who was a prisoner.

Scrubbing his shirt under the shower, he wondered what he had also been thinking. Why was he always just letting her do what she wanted? Wasn't he supposed to be the evil mastermind?

He surely never heard of an evil mastermind showered in cringy beef noodles soup.

Putting the shirt in the sink, he finally gave up on the idea of getting the stain off, he enjoyed his shower a bit. Soon, he would have to get back to his shitty reality: being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a very unstable group of people.

When he got out, he realized he forgot to take clothes to change. Great. He would have to go and take clothes at his room half naked.

He opened the door to find April waiting for him.

"Hey, I wanted to say … Where is your shirt?"

She looked mildly surprised, but still had a very long look at his torso. It bothered him to no end. Was he just some kind of nice looking object for her to take or look as she liked? But he wouldn't give her the satisfaction to know he minded what she was doing or thinking. Which meant he needed to make a snappy comment.

"Enjoying the view Miss O'Neil ? I'm sorry but I'm not in the mood tonight." He gave her his best smirk and was positively pleased to see her shocked look.

"What's your problem exactly?"

She turned her back to him and sat on her bed. She obviously wanted to sulk in a corner. Good, this evening would be peaceful. Unlike the last time, she tried to begin a conversation.

"I'll be right back."

"Yeah, whatever."

He quickly exited the room and went to his "real" room. The place was made to remind him of Japan. He liked it much because it was his little piece of tranquillity. And he was not about to show it to the very woman who shattered him not so long ago.

He took a quick glance at the picture of his mum and brother, wondering if he would ever get back to earth to see her again.

But he didn't really have time for personal reflections as he still had doubts about Krang and his apparent "peace". The little alien hardly ever gave up on his ideas. More often than not, he would just find a way to get what he wanted, even if it meant he had to wait.

Shredder quickly put on whatever training shirt and sweater he had and came back to the bedroom where April was waiting.

When he got in, he heard the sound of the shower running. At least, she didn't waste time. He took advantage of this time by laying in the bed. The day had been long, really long. And his back ached like hell because the floor wasn't really what you could call comfortable. He hadn't told her, because he still was ashamed to not have find another solution, but he had told the others that he wanted her exclusivity. He knew that, by making them believe that she was his, Krang and the mutants would keep their distance with her.

But it meant he had to sleep on the floor because his plan would be down the pipe as soon as one of the "others" would find out he was just covering her. If it happened, he could lose his power or her.

In the end, the Technodrome was now more than ever a dangerous place.

And she obviously didn't understand it.

When he heard the door open, he instinctively got up.

"No, no! Stay there, I can take the other bed."

"You are aware it's not a bed."

"Still, take the real bed. Take it as a way to pay you back for what I did earlier."

He couldn't stop himself from grinning.

"What's with that stupid smile?"

"Are you saying, this is an apology?"

She made a face but didn't answer back.

"Aren't you the one who said on tv that you never, ever apologize because you are never wrong?"

"What?! You saw that?"

"Should I consider this a privilege?"

"Oh, shut up already. I didn't think they would broadcast that "part"."

His smile soon faltered with the growing silence. What was he doing? Joking around with her was not the plan. The latest plan was to get them back to NY asap. And the plan he had to stick with was "to not fall again for her". Getting his heart broken once was enough.

* * *

 **Author notes**

Yep, this chapter finally came out. I know I said I wanted to publish earlier. Something like beginning of September… Sorry.

But I actually did finish it in time. It was just that I wasn't happy with the development. In the first draft, April and Shredder were mad at each other. Terribly mad. And when I reread it I felt it was just too much. I couldn't publish it.

So I re-wrote it once. Than twice and FINALLY it came out ok. I'm a bit afraid this chapter might be a bit empty so please, give me feedbacks if you have that feeling.

The next Chapter will be interesting as -spoilers- it will be a flashback on when Shredder understood he was falling hard for the red-head reporter ;)


	6. Chapter 6

So, hello guys!

No, this fiction isn't dead. I'm absolutely planning on ending it! Just sometime life catch up with me.

I hope you'll like this chapter! If you feel like talking send me a message. As always, reviews are the best! They pump me up lol.

Enjoy :)

Chapter 6

 **Oroku Saki**

Entering the noisy bar, Shredder sent deadly vibes to Krang in his head. They had stuck up with the same pattern of kidnappings. Strangely enough, it fitted the schedule of a regular job. He would often kidnap her on weekdays avoiding Friday nights. And weekends were the small two days peace everyone needed to stay sane. Why change all of a sudden? Krang had argued that the element of surprise would be great but it still bothered him. Sure, he might sound like an old grandma, but he liked when things went as planned. And, of course, April wasn't at her apartment on a late Friday night.

He definitely wasn't eager to know what she was doing in a downtown club.

He hadn't even changed for the occasion, so when I burly-spiked man entered the bar, the few not too drunk people slowly walked away from his path. It didn't take him long to spot the chest-nut haired women walking in the toilets.

Perfect, he would corner her there.

Scaring the other customers, he went straight to the door and waited a few minutes because he didn't plan to kidnap her while she was doing what people do in toilets. When he entered, he found her putting on make-up.

"Miss O'Neil." He wanted to sound terrifying but he had to admit his voice faded out when he saw her fully.

Wearing a skimpy dress that revealed her impressive cleavage, her make-up was subtle. As if she knew that she didn't need a lot more to get the attention of whoever was actually looking at her. She was flamboyant.

Until she talked.

"Haha, Shredder! You're early! Today is Friday you dumbass!"

The fact she was struggling to stay straight of her feet indicated she was completely drunk.

"Well, from the looks of you, perhaps you needed me to come and kidnap you before you do something stupid." As he spoke, he came to her and tried to grip her wrists.

She fiercely fought him: "What do you think you're doing?!"

"I already said it, kidnapping you."

"No!"

The stupid struggle went on for what seemed like an eternity. Coping with a drunk April was actually worst than coping with the every day April. Her movements where unpredictable as even she didn't know what she was doing. Shredder also took into account that that skimpy dress of hers would probably reveal everything if he was to charge her on his shoulder like he used to do. He also feared she might throw up at any moment. God, why did Krang thought that his stupid plan of his absolutely needed to be on a Friday?

"Stop it and come with me already."

"No, today is Friday night! It's time out. You can't kidnap me now."

"Whoever said there was a time out?"

"I need to have fun sometimes okay? And Friday night is fun night."

"You can have all the fun you want in the Technodrome."

At those words, she gave her a strange look which quickly changed in something more … Sexy. What had he done?

"All the fun I want? Really Shredder?" Her posture changed as she went in what seemed like her flirty look.

"I don't know what you are implying but there's a TV down there." He felt like a child when the words rolled off his tongue. She obviously wasn't thinking of watching a stupid TV program. And there was nothing more to do there.

"Fun night is all about sex Shredder."

Well, at least she was direct. She looked at him from head to toe and he felt completely naked. In a haughty tone, she added: "So, let me be and come back tomorrow."

The smart fox went straight for the door after that, believing he would stay dumbstruck on the place. But he was a ninja, he was trained to be quick and swift. Slamming the door hard as she was opening it, he blocked her between his two arms. The girl wanted to play? Then he would play too.

"You know what? I might take on that offer."

She gave him a panicked look before she straightened up.

"Really? I'm sure you're acting tough but in reality, you won't take on the offer." She said with a smug smile.

"I'm the bad one here, April, don't forget it."

"Okay, then kiss me."

What the actual fuck? His surprised must be visible as she began to smile again.

"Didn't you say you were the bad one here? To me, it looks more like a bad boy than anything else."

He felt his blood boil from humiliation. How insufferable could she get?

"Okay, a kiss and we're gone."

"That's the deal, bad boy."

Obviously, drunk April seemed to have a lot of fun bullying him. He took his helmet off and realized how hot he had felt in it. Meanwhile, April didn't try to run away and he wondered if this wasn't the first time she wasn't trying to run away from him. At first, she had looked at him straight in the eyes, clearly saying that she wasn't afraid of him. But now that he had taken his helmet off, her gaze wondered a bit to fully look at the face she had never really seen.

He now didn't dare to move. She was so drunk she probably didn't realize what she was doing. Or that what he felt like because to him this was ridiculous. But he knew that if he dropped out now, he would never hear the end of it.

And suddenly, his thoughts were cut off by the feeling of delicate lips crushing on his. He had the feeling a tsunami had just crushed his mind as nothing could be processed anymore other than her soft lips on his and her smooth skin under his fingers. His hands had closed on her by their own will and now, he couldn't find a reason to stop. As he felt her hot and velvety tongue on his lips, one of his hands descended, feeling the soft curve of her stomach. For once, their tongues weren't used to fight another and instead seemed to dance fiercely together. The hand who stayed on her face began to feel her hair, enjoying it and discovering it was a lot softer than he thought. He then felt her hands come to life and slowly make their way from his hips to his torso, feeling him. His hand began to pull her hair, making her head turn to give him better access and fully enjoy their kiss.

And as suddenly as it had begun, the kiss ended by her pushing him away with those very hands that were feeling him a second ago.

"Give me a second."

This time, he was too stunned to react when she turned, opened the door and disappeared.

Nothing could describe what he was feeling. He had the impression his stomach had just flipped over and he felt as hot as ever. Most importantly he could still feel the ghost of her soft lips on his and her delicious scent.

And suddenly, it occurred to him. This wasn't good, this hadn't just been a kiss. It had turned him upside down and he knew that wasn't what normally happened. He didn't want to put any words on it even if he knew what it was. The knew only one thing, this wouldn't end well. It couldn't.

Looking back at his past, he remembered how bad things had turned because of this feeling. How it could turn to hatred in a matter of seconds. He walked to the mirror April used to put on her make-up and, looking straight at it, he saw what he had become. A mere shadow of what he was once, hopefully. The punch went without him thinking and he heard a cry as a woman opened the door at the same time. He first looked at the shattered mirror on the floor, then to the woman who hadn't moved yet.

He was surprised to see April.

"Didn't you run to your turtles?" He was quite pleased that his voice turned out like a slur. He had got back his senses.

"We had a deal. A kiss and we go." She told him flatly.

Walking over the debris of the mirror he picked up his helmet and put it back on.

"You know, you didn't have to break the mirror to look badass."

Was this flattery? He didn't mind as his mood was too bad to be lightened in any way.

"Let's go."

She came with him without adding anything else.

Slowly thing became foggy, he knew what had happened next. He had taken April back to the Technodrome, she slept like a log and next thing in the morning she didn't remember what had happened.

Sadly, he hadn't got the same treatment. He had remembered every little detail and was now painfully aware that she had gotten under his skin.

Even now he could smell her scent as if she was right next to him.

In fact, his acute senses told him that she really was next to him, there was no other way. Opening his eyes, he had time to see a silhouette hovering over him. What was happening?

He quickly grabbed the opponent and pinned him under him.

Of course, it was April.

"What are you doing?" After his dream, he wasn't in the mood to temper with her awkward behaviour.

"I should be the one asking you, what are you doing."

"Your little attempt at intimidation has failed, you were the one hovering over me at night. What were you doing?"

She didn't answer and looked away.

"What were you doing April?"

She looked back at him with that heroic look of hers. "You looked like you had a nightmare, so I was about to wake you up."

Unprepared for this, he shuffled back. That wasn't good and he knew it, rule number one was to never show the other something could unsettle you.

Getting back up on his feet -or putting as much space as possible between them without letting it be noticed- he added "I do not have nightmares, Miss O'Neil. If I dream I have nice dreams, like the last one where I was dining on turtle soup."

Strangely enough, she laughed at that. Wasn't the innuendo clear enough? He had just said he wanted to eat her best friends.

"What's so funny?"

Calming back a bit she answered him: "Come on Shredder, hearing you say that is like listening to a broken record. A funny one that is."

Saying nothing more he looked at the clock. It was five in the morning. Too early to get going. This was going to be a shitty day for sure.

He looked back at the shadow that was April, who seemed to be settling on the bed so he went back for the other bed. The one that wasn't a bed.

"Why were you awake at five in the morning?"

"Well, a duvet cover on the floor isn't what you can call comfortable."

"We can say it's the first time we agree on something."

Not bothering to add anything else he turned his back to her and tried to sleep. A few minutes went by before she spoke again.

"You know, it's ridiculous."

He should have known she would stop there. She never stopped. Sighing, he answered: "What is ridiculous miss O'Neil?"

"We already slept together. And you made it really clear that you didn't want anything more with me. So, there's no reason not to share the bed."

If he remembered clearly, he wasn't the one that had started this in the first place. But he was too tired and actually didn't want to speak about it again so he just answered: "I'm not sharing a bed with you because you are a little minx that tries everything she can to get what she wants."

"Are you implying that I'm going to force myself on you?"

It was too dark to see her face but Shredder could clearly hear her mocking tone.

"Forget it. We are not sharing. That's all I have to say."

Silence came and seemed to stretch on. The floor was definitely colder than the bed. And less comfortable. Shredder was already regretting the fact he hadn't kept the bed for him. He was a warrior, a ninja. He shouldn't be the one hiding under a duvet on the floor. His day hadn't begun yet and the damn woman had already reminded him of what he would only speak as an unfortunate event, then made fun of him and finally mocked him.

He had just made a decision, this would end today.

When he got up and April's shadow moved a bit, she knew something was up. And she definitely gave a cry when he took her in his arms.

"What are you doing?!"

"Just taking back what is mine."

He put her back on the floor, not really shoving her down but also not being gentle. He went back to the bed before she could get up.

"You know, you could have asked nicely."

"Shut up."

Silence. Again.

But this time she didn't speak again.

 **April O'Neil**

A few hours later, April was up, preparing for her day. Putting on her yellow jumpsuit, trying to put her hair nicely and… she was done. Well, she would definitely not pass on TV today but still she wished she had some make up to brighten a bit her face.

Shredder disappeared in the bathroom to change. At least, he had some PJs.

Finally, being alone, she tried to calm down a bit. He had nearly caught her this morning. She had to be more careful. The day he had tied her up to the bed, she had managed to hide her Turtle Com behind the said bed. And since then, she had tried to call them every day with no success.

Their relationship had gotten to a strange point. Yesterday he looked nearly normal. And today the damn man looked like he was about to attend a funeral. Apart from their little conversation, he hadn't spoke to her yet. Not even a good morning.

The fuck was happening in his brain?

Shredder came out of the bathroom and didn't even glance at her.

"Let's go."

He was definitely a lunatic. She quickly followed him out of the room. Today, she had to think of a new place to hide the Turtle Com.

O O O

"Miss April?" whined Rocksteady.

"Yes, Rocksteady?"

"I don't like salad."

April tried to suppress her sigh as much as she could but she had a hard time coping with the two mutants. She tried her best to make something good to eat and to lift the mood.

In the beginning, everybody's mood had been more or less okay. If not for April and Shredder, the rest of the group was coping as if it was just any workday. But now that they had been stuck in space for two weeks, things had suddenly changed. Krang had stopped his pesky remarks and was repeating that he would soon find a way to get power back. Beebop and Rocksteady were getting more and more flustered with each passing day. Shredder looked like he wasn't angry with her anymore, even if today was an exception. All in all, they were losing hope.

Her grandpa had told her once that, on ships, the most important wasn't the navigator or the captain but the cook. Because, when men were cramped in a small space and didn't know when they would have the chance to get back home, food was the only joy left.

And that's why she tried to make the best dishes she could.

"Rocksteady, we can't eat meat and pasta every day. Variety is an important part of a healthy diet."

"I've been eating instant noodles for the past five years and my health is very good, look!"

Rocksteady began making poses to show off his muscles. Sadly for him, it also showed he was a little fat.

"Sorry to tell you that, but you're a little fat."

"What?!" exclaimed Rocksteady, sadness and shock were explicit on his face.

"Yeah, I already told ya Rocksteady, ya should have been more careful with those chocolates." Added Beebop, suddenly a lot more interested in the conversation than the salad. "Look April, I'm the one with a lot of muscles!" Beebop flexed his arm to show off his biceps and April had to admit he looked a lot more muscular than his friend.

"You look like you work out Beebop."

"Yeah, I work out every day! If ya want, ya can come with me." Beebop said with a big smile.

"Yes, perhaps one day. I could use a little work out session. You have someplace to work out?"

"Yeah, we have that room Shredder wanted. What was the name of it Rocksteady?"

Scratching his chin, Rocksteady answered thoughtfully: "I dunno. The mojo?"

"Nah, that was in yesterday's film, you dumbass."

"Are you speaking of a dojo?"

"Yeah, that's the name!" exclaimed Beebop.

"That's where Shredder used to train us in ninja things, you know? Ninja secret things."

April began chopping down the tomatoes, trying to look like she wasn't interested. When she did that, the two mutants would tell her anything to get back her attention.

"Yes, I see. I used to do judo when I was young. Must look similar."

"No!" they cried in unison.

"It's a lot more impressive than that!"

"Yeah, we'll show ya!"

Beebop and Rocksteady began doing … things. Nothing else could be said to describe what they were doing. The moved and tried to take a stance but nothing seemed to be thought over.

"Come over April, we'll show you how to do!"

"Boys, I have to finish the salad first."

"Ow, come on! Nobody cares for the damn salad." Beebop came and pull on her shoulder forcefully. A loud tearing sound was heard and when April understood what had cracked, she jumped away from the mutant.

"The fuck! You ripped my suit!"

Looking down at her clothes, she realized that it was worse than she feared. It wasn't the shoulder seam which had ripped open. It was the zipper seam, on the front. She now had a deep cleavage showing a lot more than she wanted.

And, of course, the two mutants were now looking at her like kids would watch some brand-new toys in a showcase.

"Don't you dare look at me!" April said, hiding her cleavage with her hands. She didn't take time to think, she did what seemed like the only good idea. She went straight to the door.

"Hey, April wait!" she heard them cry in unison. But really, she didn't want them to see her like this. And she wasn't about to go on with her cooking nearly naked.

She ran in the corridors, knowing perfectly where she was going. She had no other choice but to go to Shredder.

When she got to the control room, the door opened without any problems. Barging in, Shredder addressed to her in a very bored tone: "what is it again Krang?"

"I need you" was all April managed to say.

When he heard her, he immediately got up and turned to face her. And if she hadn't been half-naked in a spaceship lost in the middle of some distant dimension, she surely would have laughed at the face he made: mouth gaping and eyes as big as saucers.

"What happened?" he managed to say in a calm voice.

"Just that idiot of Rocksteady wanted to show me something and he ripped my jumpsuit by accident."

His eyes seemed to slightly close as he muttered: "Yeah right."

"Hey! Who do you think I am? I didn't do this on purpose!"

He passed her, obviously heading out, "I know, come with me."

Not asking anything more, she went after him. Her naked state was very troubling for her, but April didn't miss one thing: they were not heading to their room. They were heading somewhere else.

Even though he had offered her some clothes on the first day, she had turned him down, thinking they would get home soon. And she really regretted it. Also, as time went by she was more and more convinced they were not sleeping in his room. He always got out and brought back new clothes. Which meant they were now probably heading for his real room, aka the latest mystery April wanted to solve.

They walked for a few minutes until Shredder stopped and turned so quickly she bumped into him.

If he cared, he didn't show it as he simply stated: "Turn around and face the corridor."

She gave him a very fiery look, ready to open her mouth and state she would do as she please when he added: "Or you do that and get something to change, or you'll stay in those clothes for the rest of the trip".

She kept the fiery glare and turned around. She had her convictions, but she also wanted to keep her dignity. And for once, he imposing cleavage was working against her.

She heard the door open, what was probably drawers being opened and in less than a minute Shredder was back, pushing clothes in her arms and pushing her along the way.

"Hey! I need to change!"

"Yes, and for that, you'll go to the room."

"Why not that one?"

"Why not the other one?"

She pouted and gave him a puppy look, to no avail. "Okay, I'll go back to our room."

"I'm going back to the control room. See you later."

She looked at his back as he had already passed her and was walking down the corridor. Today he seemed very strange. Normally, they played together, fought together. But today he looked like he didn't want to answer back.

A slight chill made her aware of her current state. She had to change now. She gave him a last glance and went back to their room.

As soon as she got in the room, she put on her new clothes. A simple t-shirt, some sport pants and a very plain sweater. All black. Hopefully, Shredder was well built which meant his t-shirt was big enough for her boobs. What would she have done if the damn things were too small for her to put them on?

In the end, the strangest thing was the smell. All the clothes had that strange herbal scent she used to smell in Japanese restaurants when they brought the small towels to wash the hands.

So now, she had the feeling he was everywhere she was.

It actually made her remember all the time he had creeped on her, suddenly sizing her from behind.

Looking back at it, the act seemed a lot more suggestive than she had ever thought off.

Shaking her head to forget about those nasty thoughts, she headed back to the kitchen.

 **Oroku Saki**

Sighing, Shredder laid back on his chair, sighing heavily. They had been lost in dimension X for about two weeks now. And today April came back with her suit zipper broken. He was having a hard time believing it was an accident. Back when he was in Japan, he had lived in a clan and he had developed a skill to feel when people were about to go crazy. Up until now, they had lived it nicely but it would soon turn nasty. He could swear it.

 _Knock, knock, knock._

Turning around on his chair he saw April leaning on the door frame. Seeing her in his clothing made his heart skip a beat. He hadn't thought about it but he'd never pictured her wearing his clothes unless in some of his late-night fantasies where April and he would end up in the same bed, far away from Krang or the Turtles.

"April to Shredder, April to Shredder, do you receive?"

If only the real April wasn't as annoying.

"Why are you here miss O'Neil?"

"You didn't come to eat. I was wondering if you were .. hungry".

She had stopped her sentence for a second, which meant she didn't tell him the truth. She was hiding something again, probably.

"I'm not hungry today."

This was actually a lie. Looking at the clock he realized it was already 1 pm, he was so focused in his mathematics he had missed lunch.

"You know, after waiting for you for an hour, I figured it out."

"So why are you here then?"

She seemed taken aback by his sentence. She turned around and disappeared from his view for a few seconds before she came back with a plate.

"I brought you some food back."

She came up to him and put the tray next to his papers. Looking down at the salad, he felt glad she hadn't left Bebop and Rocksteady eat his part.

"You know, Bebop and Rocksteady wanted to eat it. But I didn't let them do it."

Well, at least she could be a pain in the ass for others too. Looking at her, he met her stare. She was stranger than usual. She seemed to be scrutinizing him for something. The reflexion he had just before her arrival came back. Things were definitely taking a bad turn.

"Hmmm, how is the mathematics going?"

He looked at his computer's monitors which were displaying a lot of different variables. The stack of filled paper next to him had grown considerably. The place was far away from it's usual neat state.

"It's going."

She seemed disappointed in the answer. He could see it on her face.

"Does it mean you still haven't found a way back?"

" _April_ , if I had found a way back, we would be back."

"But you have some clue on how to get back right?"

"Of course! You don't have faith in me miss O'Neil?"

She gave him what was probably her most genuine look "I know that if someone can get you out of her, it's you."

He didn't know how to answer. For once, she wasn't giving him the impression she was trying to get something from him. Her hand came to his shoulder, giving him a squeeze.

"I may not always look like it but I have respect for you. I know you can do it."

She was still looking at him with her big brown eyes when he raised his hand to lay it on top of hers.

"I'm glad to know it."

He had no idea of what was happening. But somehow, he let go of her, and she went back to the door.

"If ever you want something special to eat, tell me. I'll make it."

"As long as it is eatable I'll manage."

She smiled while he smirked at her.

When the door shut down, his face went back to the blank face he had for the entire day. That morning, when he thought today would be a shitty day he had been right. Turning back to his computer, he sighed deeply. He had done all the calculus he knew of, searched all the possible ways they had and the answer was quite clear. They didn't have the means to go back to NY. Those damn Turtles had been way too good on this one, they were stuck here.


	7. Making Amends

**Oroku Saki**

Putting down his fork, Shredder looked a last time at Bebop and Rocksteady. The two morons didn't look like a threat. Yet. His eyes went to Krang. The little brain was happily explaining how he had managed to salvage some energy from burnt batteries and April was listening, a very serious look on her face.

This was actually very strange. When did those two begin the peace truth?

He hadn't told anyone about his research. He preferred to keep it for later. It was true that they still could go see on the planet if there was something to do or someone to meet. But this could lead to a big fight with dimension X residents as Krang was a search after criminal here, and a running April.

He would wait for one week. One week to find a way to get back to earth.

"And by hydrolyzing the burnt residues of the batteries, I managed to salvage more than 100 000 megatons of electricity!", Krang finished his sentence on some sort of demonic cackle as April, Bebop and Rocksteady wooed in awe.

Shredder got up, "I'm going back to my room."

Hopefully, Krang didn't comment on that. Today, Shredder could do with some rest as not more than a few hours earlier did he found out they were fucked.

As he headed to the corridor, he saw that April was following him.

They walked in silence.

Until halfway through.

"Hey, uh… Can we go by the kitchen a minute?"

"Why would we do that?"

"I forgot something."

He gave her a look. The same morning, he had decided he wouldn't give in her fantasies and until now it seemed it had worked: she had calmed down. She even had been nice to him. So, in some way, it seemed to him that his best option was to keep heading down the same path: "I don't have time for this."

She had the strangest look for a moment; halfway between surprised and terrified. But he had to keep up with his choices. So, he turned around, heading straight for their room.

"Hey! Come on! Just for this once! I'll be real quick!"

"If you made a mistake, then you should fix it by yourself."

He wanted to add that, finally, he had enough faith in her to let her go on her own without creating him some problems but he refrained at the last moment. He shouldn't show her he that after a few nice acts he was already going soft on her.

Instead, he headed down the corridor and didn't turn around but he felt her fiery eyes fix him until he disappeared from her sight.

She didn't come with him back to the room and went to the kitchen. Obviously. Must be. He hoped because if she was, in fact, going somewhere else to sabotage the Technodrome, Krang would skin him alive.

He got in the room and as soon as he laid down on the bed one question came to his mind. What if they really were about to die? Looking back at his life, all he could see was poor choices and too many twists of fate for one life.

Also, if they were about to die and of the others knew it, what would they do? He wasn't sure he really wanted to dig too deep in this one…

He wished he had some alcohol to drink right now. It looked cliché but he felt like he just wanted to go to a bar and drink until he would blackout.

But there was no bar here.

And definitely no alcohol he knew of.

"Hey"

He jumped in surprise. He had been so deep in his thoughts that he hadn't heard April come back in. She was now standing next to the bed, hiding something behind her.

His ninja skills had been lacking a few moments ago but he quickly rose in a sitting position on the bed, ready to move if he had to. She was definitely hiding something behind her back and he really wished she wouldn't be the first one to turn on him but if it was the case, he was ready.

Seeing his reaction, she recoiled a bit.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"As good as I can be Miss O'Neil."

"You don't look good to me. You've been strange all day."

He crossed his eyes suspiciously. She was smarter than he first had thought which meant that if he wanted to keep his secret, he had to hide better.

"I am merely a bit stranded lately."

"Yeah."

"I'm the one working to save us. It's very demanding."

He turned his face, trying to look like he was upset but in reality, he was mostly trying to hide his embarrassment. As a matter of fact, his costume had a helmet-mask for the fact he had trouble to hide his feelings.

"Then you should like what I've done for you."

April sat next to him on the bed. He immediately realized he had again lacked in his ninja ways. She obviously wasn't planning to kill him, or was hiding it very well, but he still should be on his guard.

She suddenly revealed what she was hiding with a triumphant Tadaaa and one of her magnificent smiles.

It wasn't anywhere near a knife as he had first thought. It was a lot closer to … to a strangely shaped cake.

"I know it's not beautiful, I had to make it in a bowl. But it's still good."

Well, that explained the shape.

"You know, if Krang learns about this he will kill you for using up our food."

"Then it will be our secret."

She smiled at him like this was the most normal thing on earth. Since when did they get so close?

"I'm not sure I can trust you."

The words had spilt out without him thinking about them. And the instant they were out, he knew he shouldn't have told her. It was a sign, a weakness sign.

"Come on! It's only a cake. And I'm the one who made it. You shouldn't be afraid like this."

He looked at her carefully, trying to decide if it was really a good idea to trust her. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized he had at least a thousand reasons why he shouldn't believe her. The first was she had lied to him. More than once, and very recently.

Understanding him in some ways, April took his left hand and trusted the cake in it.

"Look, take this as a peace amend okay? I lied to you before, I'm not trying to hide it. But from now on and as long as we are stuck here, I won't lie to you anymore."

Well, it was nice to know she believed in him enough to say out loud she was planning to lie to him when they were back.

So very April. But he had to say in a way it warmed his heart. She saw he wasn't good and even though the cake had a strange shape, he felt better at the idea someone actually cared a bit for him.

Even if that someone obviously planned to stop caring for him as soon as they got back to their normal life. He would have to do with it. Obviously.

 **April O'Neil**

That night, as April turned for the 19th time, she wondered how she would manage to grab the Turtle Com and why Shredder hadn't eaten the cake before her. She had taken time to do it, it had also been dangerous the man said it himself. And yet he didn't eat it. She turned her back to him, deciding he wasn't worth some sleepless night and thought again about the Turtle Com. The damn thing was hidden behind the bedpost and last time she tried to get it, Shredder had woken up. She had managed to find a credible enough lie, or Shredder was gullible enough to accept it, but next time wouldn't be the same.

She was now stuck, if she wanted to call, she would have to come back during the day which could be dangerous because it meant Shredder would be up and could perhaps see her on a damn camera.

Anyway, the Turtle Com hadn't worked since they got off Earth. Meaning they must have ended somewhere far far away from home.

Laying on her back, she looked at the very black ceiling and remembered how Shredder had reacted to her cake. For long, she had seen him as someone who knew -more or less- what he was doing. At least someone who had no doubt about his choice in life. But because of the recent event turns, she had discovered he had less assurance than she had initially given him. In the end, being stuck with him made her realise that he wasn't just a plain cartoon villain. The guy had a background, he had come to the US and learnt English. And he had a real name: Oroku Saki. She had no more information but little by little the image in her mind had plumped up and took a very human turn.

Which made her feel bad about how it had all begun.

She turned on her side. Trying not to think too much about it, hating the fact that for once she could have been the bad one.

O O O

The morning came too quickly for her liking. Normally, Shredder would go to the bathroom without saying a word but today, he had muttered a "Good morning" before he disappeared in the small shower room. April smiled stupidly when she realized he had eaten the cake in the night. It still was strange for her that he didn't eat it straight on but as long as he liked it she felt relieved.

She took off the clothes that served her as pyjamas and put another set of the same clothes as her day clothing. The terrible accident with Beebop and Rocksteady had at least given her the opportunity to have to set of clothes to use but sadly enough they were exactly the same. Didn't Shredder have anything different?

Time had passed by, and every passing day she felt nostalgic of Earth. She wished she could go home and watch TV. Or even just get out and eat at a restaurant.

But Shredder coming out of the bathroom made her realized she shouldn't be thinking about this. She should be focusing on doing all she could to get back home even if it was nothing more than cook.

She stopped him on the way out: "Hey, wait!"

He seemed surprised for a moment: "What do you need? I thought you were taking your shower in the evening."

"No, no. How was the cake, you liked it?" she said smiling.

"Ah, uh" he suddenly was looking away from her, red appearing on his ears, "yes it was good. Thanks."

He passed her quickly and disappeared in the corridor while April shouted silently a victory cry.

At least, this was working! She needed him at his best to get them back home quickly.

She went after him and went they arrived near the kitchen they said goodbye.

The day passed by quickly, and she was quite happy to have new ideas for food. It also looked like she had improved as she was more creative and successful in her tries. She also was quite happy that nothing too strange happened with Bebop and Rocksteady. Last time, Bebop had been a bit violent even though he hadn't done anything really bad. But still, she was now being more vigilant around them. Making sure she wouldn't give them any idea or any reason for something like that to happen again.

Strangely enough, at dinner time, the one to praise her food was Krang. Shredder stayed quite distant and cold. April didn't mind, he could do as he pleased. She had seen enough to know he was or faking or sulking.

It was quite interesting to note that the man looked more confident when he was trying to glue mutant turtles to the floor with gum than when he received a simple gift.

O O O

A few days had passed. Everything seemed to get smoother. She had improved in cooking, Shredder seemed a lot calmer than before, Bebop and Rocksteady had been real cuties to her and Krang had even invited her to look at some computer things that might interest her.

If she wasn't having a terrible pain ache from the lack of mattress, she would be quite convinced she was already dead and living in some strange Technodrome paradise.

But even though the back pain was as bad as ever, her mood was so good she felt perfect. Which meant she also began to feel like she wanted to entertain herself in a way.

But reality came back harshly when Shredder told her again he had no books nor magazines. She still had her exercise book, but what to write in it? She wasn't stupid enough to make some kind of personal diary which someone could use to know her inner thoughts. She had thought she could do some kind of "investigation book" but again, if someone was to read it things could take a bad turn. So she was stuck with an empty book and nothing interesting to write in it.

At nighttime, because April felt that their relationship had had a good turn, she wanted to have a genuine discussion with him. So before they turned the light off and fell in their usual silence, April said: "Hey, Shredder."

Shredder just laid on his bed, answering: "What?"

"What do you do in the evenings?"

"What?" He turned to her, an eyebrow raised in a questioning manner.

"I mean, on a normal evening in the Technodrome. What do you do to have fun?"

He laid down again not replying and when she finally thought he wouldn't reply at all he said: "I read books."

"What?! But you said you didn't have any books!" April shouted, angry that she had been bored for nearly a month when she could have been reading all along.

"It's still true."

April glared at him, was the man mocking her? "Shredder, look at me straight in the eyes, do you have books?"

He looked at her, his eyes as serious as ever as he deadpanned: "Yes, I have books."

The silence was heavy as her face started to turn red and his eyes started to sparkle with mischief. He slowly added: "Alas, they are all in Japanese."

"Oh god, you're as bad as ever." Disappointed, she turned her back to him. Her anger had fallen as quickly as it had come. She was pretty sure he was smirking now, happy to have toyed with her. She didn't like it when he was the one having the last word and as he was about to turn off the lights she turned again: "I have an idea!"

"Come, enlighten me with your bright mind." She made a face, since when did he become so cocky? But this time, he wouldn't win. She was the mastermind at those game.

"You should teach me Japanese."

"What?", this time his eyes were as big as saucers.

"Yes, teach me Japanese. That way I'll be able to read your books."

"It doesn't work like this. You can't learn a language like that."

"Obviously, I have enough time to learn Japanese."

"It's not about time, it's about learning a language. Japanese is not like learning Spanish. It's difficult."

"But I have a personal teacher just for me!" She smiled brightly at him, not showing her disappointment in the fact he wasn't blushing at all and was actually taking this very seriously.

"I don't even know why I'm talking about this with you. Miss O'Neil, I'll be very clear. You are definitely not learning Japanese with me. Do as you want when you come back to New-York but I won't be the one to teach you. Also, if I remembered correctly, weren't you the one who said you desperately wanted to cook for everyone?"

"Yes, I remember that." Said April, knowing he had a point there.

"Than you should commit to your engagement."

Without waiting anymore, he shut the light and she heard him ruffling the bed as he got in it.

And that's when April remembered something important. Something that could be a good excuse not to be with the two morons, and to be having some kind of distraction at the same time.

"But Shredder, you do normally exercise too right?"

"Yes."

He hadn't answered directly, which meant he knew where she was going. She had to be very delicate with her sentences if she wanted to score.

"You know, when I was ten I learned judo." He wasn't commenting so she went on: "I really liked it. I got to the green belt but I had to stop for high school. Anyway, the point is you are a ninja, you should keep on exercising. And while you do this I could exercise on my own you know, have some sort of distraction. In the meantime, you would be sure I am not on my own trying to blow things up. It would be a win-win situation."

She could not see his face but she wasn't hearing him answer. He was probably pondering the pros and the cons. He finally simply said: "Okay."

"You'll see, you won't be disappointed!" she brightly answered.

"That is yet to be confirmed, Miss O'Neil."

April smiled as the silence came back. She was now ready to go to sleep, knowing things weren't as bad as they seemed. They were in their way back to New-York and her conditions were improving with every passing week. What could she ask more?

O O O

Starting stretching, April took a closer look to the room. She hadn't believed she was still in the Technodrome at first. Saying it looked Japanese would be diminishing. The room was a combination of everything she had seen in Martial Arts Movies. There were big Asiatic characters paintings on the wall, a picture of an Asiatic guy on one of the walls, weapons on the side, tatamis on the floor. The only thing that was a bit out of character was the mirrored wall. Overall, the room looked very nice.

"Hey! So how will we warm up?" said April as she turned to face him.

Shredder hadn't put on his costume and was wearing a plain black jogging and a plain back tank top. She looked at her too big for her jogging and her oversized pull-over dejectedly, why was he sexier than her?

"I never said we would train together." He said, giving her a nasty look while he started doing push-ups.

"Come on! It's better to train together than alone." She tried to do the same as him and not focus too much on his flexing muscles.

"Yes, it's better if the partner actually knows what she is doing. Look at you, you can't even do push-ups correctly."

He got back up and looked at her. "Your arms should be parallel to your body. And you should straighten your back."

She tried to apply what he had just said: "It's better like this?"

"Your… butt is still too high. Try to be as straight as your body can be."

Trying to not take this remark in a bad way, April straightened herself. "It's better?"

"Yes."

"How many should I do?"

"As many as you can."

He went back to his own push-ups and they warmed up in silence. Thinking back to all their meetings, April realized it was probably the first time they were sharing something together peacefully. They had had some silent moment before like when they went to sleep or when they ignored each other in the bedroom, but those were nothing close to peaceful.

As they were starting to do abs, April found out something strange. She had seen him shirtless enough times to remember he was quite muscular. And even though he wasn't wearing his costume anymore, she could swear he still had the same crazy muscles under his tank top.

"Shredder?" she said in between to abs.

"What?" he said, not bothering to stop.

"You've been training without me?"

"I hadn't realized we had some training commitment going on."

She just pouted. It was true, this adventure hadn't started with the best turn. At least, they were now on good terms but if she was true to herself, two weeks ago this kind of activity couldn't have happened between them.

"You don't look like the sportive kind." He added, with a softer tone.

"I go to the gym every two to three days. You know, this body won't be this fabulous on its own." She answered with a smile.

"Yeah, and I guess it'll be harder for you to have fun on fun nights if your body isn't at its best."

He hadn't said it badly, but April knew it still meant something to him. It might be his way to tell her again he wasn't approving her ways.

But more was needed to spoil her mood.

"It's not only for that. I'm regularly on TV and I'm pretty sure I won't teach you anything if I tell you that the more attractive I am, the better the audience. So, we can say it's also for work."

Looking at back at him, she discovered he had stopped his abs and was looking at her.

"That's really the worst excuse I ever heard. Admit you like looking … hum. You like being good looking. That's all."

"Were you about to say I liked looking hot? Because from the look of your red ears I'm pretty sure that's what you thought."

"Oh, shut up. Time to start the real training."

It was quite out of character for them to be bickering so calmly. It was probably due to the fact they had been stuck together for a month. And from the look of things, it wasn't about to change. When she was in college, April had taken some socio-ethnical classes. In it, she had studied the case of people stuck together for long times, for example in submarines, or boats. And she vividly remembered her teacher explaining people would automatically adjust because, when survival was at stake, the rest could wait. So, was it what was happening with her and Shredder?

The man had just started to train his moves, quickly punching a punching ball. After several punches, he started training his kicks.

"Weren't you supposed to train too? Are will you keep on staring at me all the time?"

"Yeah, yeah, I was just thinking about what I was going to do."

She turned around, giving him some space but, still, she noticed he had blushed again. Which left her wondering, did he blush as much before? Well, she couldn't know as he was always wearing that stupid helmet. But she was now sure of one thing, Shredder could act very differently depending on the circumstances. And the "at home" Shredder looked a lot less confident than the "fighting" Shredder.

She could still hear throw kicks and punches and she realized she had now to face a fact. She had learned Judo for a year and merely had a yellow belt, nothing close to a green belt. Also, it had been more than fifteen years since she last had a class.

After racking her brain for a good ten minutes she had to admit. She really remembered nothing apart from the flips.

"What's happening to you? Having a blank perhaps?"

She didn't have to see his face to know there was a big grin on it.

"Well, … Maybe."

"I should have seen it coming."

Shredder came up to her and strangely enough began to teach her some basics moves. Punches, kicks, all easy enough for her. She soon felt at ease and had the feeling she was really capable of achieving something there. The man was far better at teaching than he was at trying to take over New-York. It suddenly hit here again, how she actually never really got to know him. And how he suddenly seemed to have more depth than she ever thought he had.

"Why are you smiling like this?" he suddenly asked.

"Why wouldn't I smile?" she sheepishly answered.

"I never thought you would be happy about doing ninja moves."

His tone hadn't been an angry one. It was more questioning than anything else.

"Well, I didn't know I would like it that much." She answered with a genuine smile.

Their training went on in the same atmosphere. In the end, it was much more enjoyable than she had thought it would be. They had trained, they had chit-chatted, even laughed some times. For a small hour, she had forgotten about their situation.

As their training session came to an end, she took a good look at the man next to her. A fine layer of sweating was covering his skin, making his muscles even more defined than they were before. He was slightly out of breath after he made a series of high kicks. She couldn't see his face fully as he wasn't facing her, but one thing was for sure, this was the closest to relaxed she had ever seen him.

April had to admit, in a month she had more than once changed her opinion on him. The scale was big as it went from absolute revulsion to kindness but she was sure of one thing. The man in front of her wasn't Shredder, that man was Oroku Saki and she probably still had a lot to discover about him.

* * *

Lately, someone asked me if there would be a chapter 7.  
Well yes, here it is. Less than one weeks after you asked it lol.  
I know I take time to update. It's not really because I'm stopping than coming back. It's more because life is full of surprises and I am sometimes not ready for them. But please, don't worry. I'm definitely finishing this story.  
As always, if you like it, leave a comment! :)  
Any kind of review is good for me. Good, bad, all can do.  
Thanks for keeping up with my work.  
Kisses to you all.


	8. Littles Lies never hurt right?

**Chapter 8**

« And you seeeeee, this is how I managed to salvage enough electricity to light planet Earth for at least three centuries."

When Krang had invited April, she hadn't realized she was in for a full tour and description on how to salvage energy from burned up batteries.

The little bubblegum like creature that was Krang, had screechingly told her anything from the most basic to the most complicated parts. If anything was sure for her, it was that a headache would soon wreck her brain.

As Krang turned his "body" to her, showing off one of his crazy smiles and agitating his little tentacles inside his cubicle, something came to her mind.

"Oh! But if we have enough energy, perhaps we can lend on a planet! It would give us better chances of survival. Perhaps we can even meet some native and they will help us find a way back home!"

The smile of Krang seemed to expand in the strangest way. His mouth bigger than ever, giving her the feeling he was about to split in two separate parts.

"What are you saying, Miss April? I don't quite understand."

April was taken aback, first by how his smile could be so gross, second by the fact he didn't understand her. Her sentence had been simple enough, how could that alien miss her point?

"Well, you know, we could go on a planet. It would be better for us…" April stopped there, not really knowing what to say else but noticing his tentacles were moving more and more.

"Oh, he didn't tell you, did he?"

"Tell me what?" She said in a small voice, not liking where things seemed to be going.

"Miss Appprriiiilll, we are on a planet since the very beginning."

She felt her blood drain from her face and her legs seemed to turn in jelly. Did Shredder lie to her from the beginning? He never really told her they were in space but he surely never said otherwise.

She wished her face wasn't showing her feelings but from the little cackle Krang made, she was very obvious.

"I'm sorry Krang, I have to go."

"Yes, yes Miss April. Of course. I understand."

She quickly turned and tried not to run to the exit even though her mind was shouting for revenge. She hated the feeling that was now going through her whole body. At some point, somewhere between the clothes he lent her and the cake she gave him she somehow thought they were friends. But friends do not lie to each other or at least, not her friends.

April was so engrossed with her angry thoughts, she surprised herself when she realized she was already in front of the control room's door. It didn't stop though, as nothing such as a door ever stopped her.

When she got in, she saw Shredder jump from is seat to face her as some papers flew on the floor.

"You son of a bitch!" She shouted walking to him and pointing him accusingly.

"What is happening to you?" He said in a low voice, rising from his seat in a fighting stance which, she had to admit, lowered a bit her angry demeanour.

"You lied to me!"

At those words, Shredder seemed to relax a bit. April didn't know if it was a good sign or not.

"What is that new nonsense, Miss O'Neil." He accentuated the vowels in her name on purpose.

"Nonsense? What nonsense? I never did anything …" Her first plan had been to say she had never done anything wrong to him but at the last moment, she changed her mind as she remembered how it had all began. "Since we are on this fucking shit I never lied to you. Never. I thought we had a thing going on. I thought we could trust each other. But it's obviously not the case as you lied to me. Making me believe we were in space when in fact we were on a planet! What crossed your mind!"

"Oh yes, what crossed my mind not telling you? Perhaps the fact I know very well you would be out the very moment you knew about this." Shredder had not flinched at any of her shouts. On the very opposite, he looked quite confident looking at her from his full height with his hands on his hips.

"Of course, I would go out! It's our best chance to get back to New-York!"

"Even if saving yourself meant you would kill the rest of us?"

April cooled down at those words. Whatever could happen in her life, the last thing she wanted was to kill people.

Shredder went on: "Krang is searched after in the whole dimension X. If one of us gets out and find natives, they will come back here and kill him. We are not ready to fight back with the Technodrome in this state."

April's fiery spirit definitely cooled down at those words even though she was still beyond annoyed.

"So, you are telling me that because of him we are not going out? That we are perhaps missing some good life-saving opportunities out there so that _thing_ can stay alive?"

"I don't know why, but I thought you would understand how it is to have a friend who needs to stay hidden from … authority."

April winced at that comment. She wasn't convinced that her situation could be related to his. The Turtles were a lot more "positive" than Krang was.

"I'm not leaving him." He said in a whisper. In his eyes, she saw again the man more than the persona. It wasn't Shredder speaking, it was Oroku Saki.

"Shredder, can you promise that you can save us? That you will get us all back to New-York? Because I like you all in some ways. So, I don't want to harm you, but still. I don't want to die here either."

"I promise you we'll be back In New-York soon enough."

She looked at him, trying to decipher his face but he was now unreadable again. The man had put on his Shredder mask again. Finally, she scrutinized his eyes, trying to decipher whatever she could see in those brown nearly black eyes as if some unknown truth could be hiding there.

"Okay, I believe you. But no more lies."

O O O

That night, as April was waiting for something to amuse her while Shredder was taking a shower. They did go to the dojo and even though they exercise by themselves, it had been fun, but she was still missing films, books, magazines, her work, anything that could fire up her life a bit.

Anything that could make her forget that they were in this "trip" for more than a month. And the fact that her last fight had worsened again her relationship with Shredder. Their relationship had always been difficult but she really needed him now, she couldn't stand the idea they were back again to square one.

Shredder got out, fully dressed and April felt disappointment rise within her. He definitely wouldn't fire up her night.

"What's that big sigh? Am I already bothering you?" He said in a nasty voice.

"Come on Shredder, everything happening in my life isn't about you. I'm just bored."

He gave her a look half of distrust half confused. At first, April thought that he was more lunatic than anything else, but as time went by, she understood that the man had a very real self-confidence problem.

She got up and walked to him.

"Here, let make a handshake."

"What?"

"Or whatever you normally do to swear something."

He looked at her not moving which gave her the feeling he wasn't even understanding what she just said. "I'm going to swear to you I will not make fun of you anymore. So, you can relax. Here, give me your pinky."

She rose her own hand, showing her pinky and he slowly did the same. She grasped his finger and shook it while saying. "I solemnly swear to you that I won't make fun of you more than necessary. Let's be friends from now on."

"I thought you said you would stop altogether." He said in a voice half-amused half-serious.

"Well, life wouldn't be fun if I have to stop making fun of your spiky helmet when we get back home." She said with a smirk while she gave a thug on his pinky, trying to reinforce her point.

"Well, it's not as bad as your yellow suit."

"Oh, come on! My yellow jumpsuit is perfect. _And_ , I have a lot of audience with it."

Shredder let go of her hand and laid down on the bed but April chose to stay up, walking right and left as she listened to him speaking.

"I'm pretty sure you have a high audience because you have shots of me kicking the Turtles' ass."

"I'm pretty sure it's the other way around. People know you thanks to me!"

"April, two months ago I destroyed four whole blocks with the Technodrome."

She stopped in her track. First, because he used her first name, which he only did when he was feeling quite close to her, second because well, he had a strong point there.

"Okay, you might have a point there. But I'm pretty sure we have some kind of cohesion going on. And, oh! This gives me an idea!" she said, suddenly turning to face him.

Shredder didn't answer but gave her a questioning look.

"I could make an interview with you! That would be perfect!"

"An interview? Why would you do that? We never do that."

"I never do it with you! But I did it a lot of times on TV. I interviewed that guy that won the car race."

"Oh, yeah. And that other guy who bought car pieces and made a car out of it." He said in a teasing voice.

"Oh, shut up, I have some good interviews too." She answered while sitting on the opposite side of the bed, trying her luck.

"I have nothing interesting to tell. You can make an interview with me when I'll have taken over New-York."

He turned his back to her, trying to cut off the conversation but April wasn't about to stop there. She got up and turned around the bed, kneeling next to him.

"Come on, that interview could be the best I ever made! Just, imagine it. I could say that while we were stuck in space you made _me_ interview _you_ as a premise to your future plan of taking over New-York! I could, you know, add some things here or there, saying how bad and impressive you are."

"So that's how it works in America? Reporters are just saying whatever they want to have big titles and a bigger audience?" he deadpanned.

"That's not saying whatever I want, it's _emphasi_ zing important details. And, well, I never went to Japan but I'm pretty sure it's the same there."

He stayed silent for a minute or so but April knew she had won.

"Okay, but when? I'm already working all day to find a way out."

"We'll just do it at night. After training, that way your muscles will be even bigger. It'll be perfect."

He rolled his eyes but she saw a small smile appear on his lips. This was surely going to be fun.

"Okay, I'll start thinking about questions." She added.

"Yes, Miss O'Neil. Do that."

She went back on her floor, fed up of sleeping there but happy she would soon be doing one what she believed would be the best interview of the year.

* * *

Yes, this chapter is a bit small but if i added the next chapter to it it would have been gigantic. So I guess you are stuck with a small chapter compared to the last ones ;p  
And, yes, I took a lot of time. To tell the whole truth I had a rough semester. I thought I would have time to write but in fact no.  
Well, it doesn't change the fact I have the feeling this story should really end soon. As you saw, I added a few chapters before the "end". But what you don't know yet is that I already wrote a rough guideline. Which means I don't have to make up the story anymore, I just have to write it down which is a lot quicker.  
I hope this time I'll be able to be a lot quicker than before! Thanks a lot for everyone who believed in me and your nice comments :)  
Special shout-out to CinemaNerd who sent me a nice comment the day after I started writing again! Wow! What a timing!


	9. The interview

**Chapter 9**

After what felt like a long, very long day for Shredder, he and April O'Neil were heading down the corridor back to the control room. They had both agreed it was for the best to do it at night rather than in the evening.

April was ecstatic about the interview. He had never seen her like this before. She wasn't wearing her yellow suit or any make-up but she still looked radiant as she was setting up the camera in one of the corners of the control room. He, on the other side of the room, felt quite stupid in his spiky suit. He didn't know why but today he didn't like it one bit. But he certainly wasn't about to do the interview without his very intimidating and very hiding helmet.

"Come on! Try to cheer up a bit. Why are you looking so gloomy? Is it about Krang?"

He felt his blood turn cold in an instant. Just after dinner, April told him about the fact she and Krang had started a relationship. He couldn't believe it. Even if it was a life or death matter, Krang never changed his mind and he had stated his hatred for the journalist a long time ago. As stupid as it might seem, he took this piece of information as the evidence something was about to happen in his back.

Because of his lack of answer, April stopped wiring her camera and look questioningly at him. Her demeanour had changed a bit. If it wasn't for them living together for nearly a month, he wouldn't have seen it. That slight downturn of her lips, her eyes a little smaller than they normally are. She was attentively listening to him.

But he knew for a fact that an April on a rampage wasn't good in any way. He had to convince her that it could be dangerous without terrorizing her.

He calmly said: "Well, whatever you believe in, miss April. I'm only saying that, for _your_ safety, you should never accept anything from him."

For the first time since he had put his helmet on, he felt grateful. The faceplate had always been a way for him to hide his too expressive face. And obviously, it was doing wonders hiding his uneased face as she pouted and rolled her eyes: "You know, you don't speak a lot so… I have to find other means of having fun."

"Don't tell me you're having fun speaking to him. Are you even speaking to him? Or is he the only one speaking?" He said in a too angry tone for his liking.

"Well, I have to say I can only speak when he asks questions, if not he'll get angry saying I'm cutting his speech down. And well, I don't give a shit about batteries savaging." She finished her last sentence by giving him a wink.

"April. As a journalist, you shouldn't swear."

At those words, April laughed and he felt anger rising in him, too scared that she might be mocking him like she is so used to do. But as she looked at him and smiled in between to laughs, he understood she was genuinely laughing and he let slip a little laugh himself.

"Okay big boy, are you ready?"

"I'm a man."

"Shredder, that's just a way of speaking. Ready?"

He focused on himself, trying to muster up the confidence he needed for the interview. He knew this was a great opportunity to strengthen his image. He looked at her straight in the eyes and said: "I'm ready."

April turned on her camera and took her microphone. She stayed behind the camera as they had planned. She had insisted that she wouldn't appear on camera without her yellow suit and make-up. So, the result was that he would be the only one filmed.

"Good morning Channel 6, I am April O'Neil and I'm about to interview the man that New-York fears the most: Shredder. This is a very exclusive interview as it is the first one he gives. Shredder, Good morning."

"Good evening." He said flatly.

She glared at him. "You have to say good morning."

"Why? It's not the morning. It's 11pm. Why not say good evening?"

"You have to say good morning because I already said it, come on! Don't be a kid!"

"Good morning."

"So, Shredder, tell me more about you. Where do you come from?"

"Japan."

April seemed annoyed and made some movement to him. He understood it as a silent "keep talking".

"I come from a small city near Tokyo, but now April O'Neil, tell me why I should be telling this to Channel 6?" He said in an angry tone as he got up. She seemed offended but he wasn't about to let her turn this around. He had kept his private life private until now. He wasn't calling himself Shredder and wearing a mask for nothing. He didn't want anyone to know his real name nor his origins.

She didn't say anything for a few seconds, closed her eyes and tried to calm down. Taking a deep breath, she started explaining: "You see, when you make an interview, you need to ask personal question. As reporters, that's our job. Making information."

"I hope you wanted to say "Finding information"".

"Don't play on words. I need you to answer."

"This will not help me to strengthen my image."

"Yes, it will!" She nearly shouted. "Look, we have to start at the beginning. Where you come from, then go on with why you came here."

"And if I don't want to tell that story? Perhaps I want to keep this private."

"Than just makeup something."

He gave her a very distraught look which made her go on: "You really don't want to tell the real story. That, I can understand. But can't you give me the big lines? It doesn't have to be too detailed."

"No, I can't give any big lines. Apart from the fact I went from Japan to the USA."

"Then let's just be very, very, _very_ elusive. Is that good enough for you?"

"Yes."

"Let's just start it from the beginning okay?"

"What are the other questions?"

"You can't answer my question by another question Shredder." She said in a flat tone.

"I want to know before you ask them to me."

"That's not how it works! Where is the surprise if I tell you first?"

"You will be surprised if I chose not to answer!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. I won't tell you exactly what the questions are but I can tell you globally and you tell me if it's good or not ok?"

"It seems good enough."

April went to her bag and took out her notebook. He felt proud about the fact she had really used that old book of his and as she turned the pages, he smiled to himself.

"So, we have a section about things like your favourite colour or what you like to do in your free time."

"I'm not answering that."

"Oookkaayyy" she already seemed upset but she went on: "There's a part on family" He shook his head, "a part on what you like to eat" he kept on showing his denial, "what kind of films you like" he again shook his head and she abruptly closed her notebook.

"Shredder, you can't just say no to everything."

"I don't see the point in those questions."

"The point is to entertain viewers!"

"My private life is not a source of entertainment!"

She pouted and for a minute she looked like a spoiled brat who understood his mistake.

"Well, yes, I guess someone might see it this way."

She looked again at her notebook, then her camera, then him and back to the notebook.

"You know what? Let's just do it from the beginning. I promise you I won't ask anything too personal. Okay?

Shredder wasn't convinced but nonetheless, he answered: "Okay."

She smiled and started again: "Good morning Channel 6! , I am April O'Neil and I'm about to interview the man that New-York fears the most: Shredder. This is a very exclusive interview as it is the first one he gives. Shredder, Good morning."

"Good morning April O'Neil."

She gave him a thumb and he had a hell of a time no to react to it. What would his viewers think if he looked like he was easy to distract?

"Shredder, I heard you were Japanese, is that true?"

"Yes…" she started to move her arms again and so he added, "your informant is right, I am Japanese."

She smiled, looking pleased as she added: "As a supervillain, why did you not stay in Japan?"

"I had affairs that needed to be taken care of in the USA, and well, I saw I had opportunities here."

April was now moving right and left behind the camera, never stopping which made Shredder think that if her mind was at least half as much agitated it explained a lot of her life choices.

"Opportunities? What kind?"

"Opportunities to take over the country of course! People here are too… lazy. They need a better leader. I'll be perfect for the role."

"So, your objective is to first take over New-York than the rest of the country."

"Exactly."

"And what do you plan to do when you'll be the leader?"

For half a second, he was lost. He had never thought about it. Krang probably had plans, but on his side, he had nothing planned. But he had no time to look lost so he did as always, he chose to look extravagant.

He got up from his chair as April changed the orientation of the camera to keep the focus on him. "That, miss O'Neil, you'll be the first one to see! And be assured that, on my very first day as the sole and unique leader of USA I will make you dine on turtle soup!"

She stopped moving and looked at him. At first, she seemed shocked but she then smiled suggestively. "Are you inviting me to the restaurant?"

Taken back a bit he still answered flatly: "I invited you to eat your best friends."

"Said like this, it's less inviting."

He gave her a mean look to try to make her stop her bantering.

"Don't worry, we're stopping there. It will be a short interview but still good. We're going straight to the point. And at the end, your move was brilliant. When I'll be back at channel 6 I'll do a little editing and try to zoom on your face. You'll be terrifying."

"I thought the interview would be longer than that." He said as he watched her packing her things.

"Well, it was supposed to be! But as you don't want to answer anything too personal we'll have to stuck with this."

He took the camera from her: "I'll take this."

"Thanks!"

As they walked back to the bedroom in silence, Shredder couldn't stop thinking he had missed an opportunity with his shorten interview.

"The interview is too short."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

April stopped and turned to him. "Shredder!" He put his only free hand on her mouth, had she forgotten that they needed to be discreet? Of course, she used her own hands to move his.

"Hey!"

"Be more discreet for god's sake." He hushed.

Turning a bit red she said softly: "Sorry, I forgot."

He hummed her and started to walk again down the corridor. The sooner they were back at their room, the better.

"I just wanted to say, you have to stop fighting."

He was prepared for a lot of things but not for this kind of answer. At that instant, he believed April O'Neil had lost her mind.

"What?"

"You have to stop fighting what just is."

She had definitely gone mad.

"I believe you have lost your mind."

"No, it's just that I'm not saying this in the right way. It's something hard to express."

He didn't add anything as they entered their room. He disposed of the camera in a corner of the room before he went straight to take a shower. The hot water soothed him, as always.

When he got out, he found a new "cake" on his bed.

"Surprise!" April shouted as she saw him.

To say he jumped from fright would have been too much, but he couldn't deny she startled him a bit.

"Why the cake? I thought it was only when I was depressed or something."

"It made you a cake because you accepted the interview. It's a way to say thank you." She nonchalantly said as she sat down on the bed.

"Of course. Especially since you won't give me a real thank you in the first place."

He smirked as he saw her open and close her mouth like a fish out of water and then pouted. Satisfied with his victory, he sat on the other side of the bed and started to eat.

"Thank you for the interview."

He looked at her, surprised she would really say that.

"Am I dead miss April? I believe I just heard you thanking me."

He saw it, the fire in her eyes, that fire which was always the beginning of their small fights. But she didn't say what she was about to say. Instead, she stopped, closed her eyes and breathed slowly. After a few minutes, he really thought that he had definitely closed their conversation for tonight but she spoke again: "Shredder, what I said earlier. It's true."

"That nonsense? The part where you said I had to stop fighting?"

"It was more than that!"

"Enlighten me." He sarcastically said.

"Shredder, you're _always_ going both ways. You're always fighting yourself."

"I guess being stuck with me made you turn Chinese at some point."

"I'm not joking!" she shouted back to him.

This time, he didn't move. He just looked at her, waiting for whatever she wanted to say. He had seen those kinds of scenes so many times when he was a kid. His mother shouting on his father at nights, when they fought he and his brother were asleep. He guessed they had reached that part of the "we're stuck together relationship". The part where they act like an old couple on the verge of divorce.

"I'm…" She watched the wall and seemed to calm down a bit before she turned back to him and said: "I just want to say that you have to stop overthinking. That interview, it's good. Stop thinking about it. And if you really want to redo it then we'll redo it. But it already is good. You shouldn't demean yourself like you are doing."

He wasn't prepared for that. They had grown closer over the days, that was sure. But had they really grown close enough for them to have those kinds of conversations? He didn't really know how to reply. He never really had the opportunity to speak about his problems to anyone. And he wasn't really sure that speaking about his self-confidence problems with April O'Neil was really a good idea.

She lightly tilted her head to the side, obviously waiting for an answer.

He sighed and chose to focus on his nearly finished cake.

She smiled, he didn't see it but he now had a gut feeling about her smiles and especially _what kind_ of smile she had on her face. He put the empty bowl down on the night desk and he heard her get up from the bed. As she stood up, he could hear the little cracking noises coming from her spine.

"Your back looks painful."

"That's the result after days of sleeping on the floor you know? It tends to have this effect on backs."

He thought a bit, he knew he could help her. By one way or another. One part of him was afraid she might turn back to the cold and haughty April. The one who took his heart, threw it on the floor, spit on it and then proceeded to stamp it until it was nothing but trash. But the other part couldn't deny the fact she was nice now, and apparently doing her best to stay nice.

When he saw her lay down on the floor, looking like a feral cat trying to get comfy with an old blanket he gave in.

"Come here."

She gave him a questioning look.

"Come on, come here." He said, patting the bed next to him.

"You know, there are better ways to get a woman in your bed _Shredder_." She said to him as she got up. He saw in her eyes that even if she just joked with him she was a bit suspicious.

Nevertheless, she came and sat next to him. She might be afraid she still was the wild and fiery reporter from Channel 6.

"Turn around." He made a spinning motion with his hand to punctuate his sentence.

She pouted, not wanting to turn her back to him but also not wanting to show him that he could frighten her.

He put his hands on her shoulders and even though he first felt her tense up. She started to relax as soon as he began to massage her back.

"April, if I wanted to hurt you, I would do it in a very different way. I'm not a brute."

"Said the man who is always throwing me over his shoulder to go faster when he kidnaps me."

"Well, it's up to you to follow me or not. You choose your own fate. Also, I haven't done it for a long time."

"That's true, you haven't done it in a while. Still, would it be fun if I was just following along?"

He chuckled at her words. Her back was as hard as wood, no wonder she had a hard time when they were training. Working slowly but surely, he worked on all the tension points she had. As he worked from her shoulders to her lower back, it came to him how ridiculous everything was. From fighting the Turtles to having an affair with the best friend of the said Turtles to getting lost in space in a high-tech spaceship with the aforementioned best friend. At some point, his life had taken a comical turn.

"There! Stay there, I have a sore spot right where you are."

"Okay."

Now that she mentioned it, he would feel a very tight bundle of muscle right under his thumbs. As he worked on it, he heard her humming, nearly purring. When he thought about the massage, he didn't think of it going anywhere as suggestive as this.

He went on for a few minutes, enough for her back to get better but not too much either for his sanity. When he stopped, she said: "Wow! That was terrific!"

"Thank you."

She got up and spun around, nearly dancing. "I feel like I've just come back to life!"

"I think you are overstating here."

"Come on! Stop being humble like that, you good at this. Perhaps you should consider it as a new job?"

"I'm pretty sure I will not."

She opened her mouth then close it as quickly as she opened it. Obviously, she had just censored herself. She surely was unique.

"Do you want me to do the same for you?"

"What?"

She was smiling from ear to ear.

"I did something nice for you. Don't play with fire or you shall face the terrible anger of the Shredder!" He tried to say without laughing, which he failed at miserably.

She went back to her duvet on the floor and he felt pity by looking at her. He knew that he had been overly childish in some ways. He knew that she wasn't some kind of rapist and that sleeping in the same bed was possible from the very beginning. It just was that, at first, he couldn't bear to see her and even less touch her. She really had broken his heart in some ways he still wasn't able to accept. Those thoughts remind him that even though things were better now. They would probably go back to normal when they got back home. _If_ they got back home.

"April, I have a question for you."

She turned around in her duvet which made her look like a little redhead maggot which was quite funny. Still, he composed himself, he needed her attention.

"Do you know the broadcast frequencies of Channel 6?"

"How do you want me to know that?" With her brows knitted together, she now looked like an angry maggot. "Is it linked to a way to go back home?"

"No." Well, yes, but he didn't want her to overstress over it. If she didn't know the broadcast frequencies than nothing could be done.

"I thought that perhaps we could try to have the TV here."

She peered at him, weighing if he was lying or not. "I'm pretty sure it can't be done."

"Well, we could have tried."

"Yes."

He looked at her, the little maggot on the floor and he felt pity. Tings were not turning in a good way. He had done all that he could to find a way home and he needed something to link them back. Like a radio frequency. But he had none. Which meant that they were stuck here, meant to die of hunger or to go out and perhaps die in some inter-galactical prison. He couldn't just let her sleep her last days on the floor because of some stupid decisions they had made before.

"You can sleep in the bed."

"I already told you, your sleep is more important than mine!" She said turning her back to him to close the discussion.

"I mean, I'm ready to share."

She turned back in at an inhumane speed: "What?"

"I'm ready to share."

"Are we about to die?"

Since when was she so perceptive? "No, I'm just trying to be nice."

"I was joking! Don't worry." She got up, not arguing in any way and sat on the bed. "We can use the duvet to make a wall".

"Very clever miss O'Neil." He said as he laid down on the left side of the bed.

"Shuushh". She said as she put the duvet between them and turned off the lights.

He didn't dare to move now. Neither did she. The stayed in absolute silence for what felt like ages and as he started to fall asleep, he thought he heard her say: "Thank you Saki."

* * *

First, thank you for sticking up with me! I know, I take a long time to write.  
Thank you for your nice comments, they touch me every time. Knowing people like my work is a great way to stay motivated! As I am now on holiday I plan to try to write as much as I can and perhaps finish this fanfiction in the following weeks :)  
Please, keep on liking and commenting! I'll always to some time to reply :D


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